An­na-Lisa Paul

The low spec­ta­tor turnout to see J'Ou­vert cel­e­bra­tions in Port-of-Spain was seem­ing­ly mir­rored by a sim­i­lar de­cline in the num­ber of com­peti­tors in this year’s Old Mas Com­pe­ti­tion.

It took three calls by of­fi­cials of the Port-of-Spain City Cor­po­ra­tion be­fore the first par­tic­i­pant came for­ward to kick things off at 4.25 am.

By 4.40 am, on­ly four peo­ple had com­pet­ed and by 4.54 am, the com­pe­ti­tion was ini­tial­ly closed.

How­ev­er, as sev­er­al oth­er com­peti­tors be­gan queu­ing up lat­er on, of­fi­cials urged them to con­tin­ue quick­ly. 13 peo­ple com­pet­ed over­all. Among them was Min­is­ter of Tourism Cul­ture and the Arts Ran­dall Mitchell’s mom, Va­lerie Mitchell, who shared the stage with Lystra Kan­galee, as the duo por­trayed “Far­ley and Duke Square Off”.

Fol­low­ing the brief com­pe­ti­tion, Ever­ton Car­di­nal was de­clared the King of J’Ou­vert 2023, with his pre­sen­ta­tion “D Best Way To Stop the Spread of the Virus”. Dur­ing his pre­sen­ta­tion he was locked in­side a card­board box which re­sem­bled a jail cell with a small win­dow and a sign that read “Keep Your A#%e Home”.

Port-of-Spain Mayor Joel Martinez crowns Everton Cardinal J’Ouvert King 2023 for his presentation of "D Best Way To Stop the Spread of the Virus”.

ANISTO ALVES

Cel­e­brat­ing his win, Car­di­nal said that al­though he had com­pet­ed be­fore, this was the first time he had won the com­pe­ti­tion.

Mar­garet Mon­tano was lat­er crowned Queen of J’Ou­vert 2023 with her pre­sen­ta­tion of “Er­la Takes Charge”.

Mon­tano’s at­tire mim­ic­ked the Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er’s kha­ki uni­form, com­plete with soft-soled shoes and a hat and mask.

Her last ac­ces­so­ry was a string of lights wrapped around her up­per body which she switched on at in­ter­vals to in­di­cate she was be­ing shocked.

The brief act man­aged to draw a smat­ter­ing of ap­plause from on­look­ers.

Mon­tano said she had de­cid­ed on her por­tray­al af­ter the coun­try’s first fe­male Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er was elect­ed as it was rep­re­sen­ta­tive of her “tak­ing charge.”

Mon­tano had won the com­pe­ti­tion sev­er­al times be­fore, but this win, she claimed, held spe­cial sig­nif­i­cance for her as it was the first since be­ing back out from the pan­dem­ic.

Joseph Coombs' presentation of "The Scrap Iron Saga".

ANISTO ALVES