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Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Cardinal is King of J'Ouvert, Montano takes Queen title

by

Anna-Lisa Paul
812 days ago
20230221
Margaret Montano's presentation “Erla Takes Charge” captures Queen of J’Ouvert 2023.

Margaret Montano's presentation “Erla Takes Charge” captures Queen of J’Ouvert 2023.

ANISTO ALVES

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”.

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".

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

ANISTO ALVES

Carnival


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