CHARLES KONG SOO

Mas­quer­aders had their Car­ni­val King­dom while parad­ing in front the judges through hot sun and rain at Vic­to­ria Square, Port-of-Spain, yes­ter­day.

And Machel Mon­tano and Su­per Blue’s So­ca King­dom was the Road March fron­trun­ner at the venue, fol­lowed by Iw­er George’s Sa­van­nah and Patrice Roberts’ Sweet Fuh Days.

The mo­men­tum kept build­ing through­out the day with small and medi­um bands, in­clud­ing Min­strels, Jan­gala, Mas Pas­sion, Es­cape, Pa­parazzi, Ama­zon, Wild, The Lost Un­der­world, Im­age Na­tion and War Par­ty cross­ing the new Vic­to­ria Square judg­ing point from as ear­ly as 7.30 am.

Last year, the Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC) re­placed Adam Smith Square with Vic­to­ria Square as a judg­ing point.

As they were main­ly small and medi­um bands the mas­quer­aders slowed the pace down af­ter they crossed the judges’ tent and wait­ed for the last of their band mem­bers to cross.

There was a lull un­til just af­ter noon when big band Harts’ Shim­mer and Lace crossed in front the judges. The rev­ellers came out to have fun fore­most and didn’t seem to be in their sec­tions. Agri­cul­ture Min­is­ter Clarence Ramb­harat played mas in the band.

The sec­ond large band to cross the stage was last year’s na­tion­al large band win­ners Ron­nie and Caro with The Che­quered Board. The black and white pat­terned and coloured feath­ers of the mas­quer­aders in the first sec­tion were in stark con­trast to the bright­ly-plumed rev­ellers who fol­lowed.

There were more spec­ta­tors in the stands and on the road than on Mon­day yes­ter­day. But the on­ly “mis­be­hav­iour” came from a few mas play­ers win­ing in front the fence near the judges. There was a vis­i­ble pres­ence of po­lice on the route and mas­quer­aders and on­look­ers alike had a healthy re­spect for the mount­ed po­lice who kept or­der on the sides of the road.

Na­tion­al Panora­ma cham­pi­onships bpTT Rene­gades and third place Des­per­a­does al­so crossed the stage to the de­light of their fans and the crowds.

At 2 pm, Lega­cy’s We Jam­min Still took the stage at with Juli­et de la Bastide and “war chief” Big Mike An­toine herald­ing their ar­rival. Some of the in­di­vid­ual cos­tumes were al­most as wide as the street, but were “danced” ex­pert­ly in front the judges.

It was the most chore­o­graphed band on the day, as An­toine in­struct­ed his band mem­bers to raise their right hand and go from one side of the pave­ment to the next side in front the judges.