AN­GE­LO JE­DIDI­AH

Re­porter

an­ge­lo.je­didi­ah@guardian.co.tt

Rev­ellers of all na­tion­al­i­ties and walks of life found it hard to be­have them­selves on Car­ni­val Tues­day as they crossed the main stage at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah, Port-of-Spain, ful­ly en­joy­ing the time of their lives.

From as ear­ly as 8 am yes­ter­day, mas bands of all sizes filled the cap­i­tal again, show­cas­ing their vi­brant cos­tumes.

From the tra­di­tion­al min­strel, sailor and jab jab char­ac­ters, to the feath­ered and gem-en­crust­ed cos­tume cre­ations, thou­sands of mas­quer­aders gave their best per­for­mance to im­press both spec­ta­tors and judges.

La­belled as the “Great­est Show on Earth,” this year’s Car­ni­val al­so drew for­eign vis­i­tors ea­ger to join in the cel­e­bra­tion. Some spared no ef­fort to ex­pe­ri­ence the full Car­ni­val mag­ic.

For 20-year-old Tar­rell Jones Jr, from San An­to­nio, Texas, who us­es a wheel­chair, it was his first time play­ing Car­ni­val in T&T—an op­por­tu­ni­ty he had long await­ed and could not pass up.

“I had fun yes­ter­day, I’m gonna have fun again to­day,” Jones told Guardian Me­dia up­on cross­ing the Sa­van­nah stage

“Hav­ing my fam­i­ly around, my good sup­port sys­tem, for giv­ing me this op­por­tu­ni­ty to be out here and en­joy­ing this– part of my cul­ture and learn­ing my roots.”

A large group of Japan­ese tourists, ex­pe­ri­enc­ing the spec­ta­cle for the first time, called the Pa­rade of Bands “ex­cit­ing and amaz­ing,” as they danced non-stop along­side the grand stage.

And just like many Trin­bag­o­ni­ans, for­eign­ers found them­selves swept up in the in­tense Road March bat­tle, with Voice (Cyah Be­have), Machel Mon­tano (En­core) and Patrice Roberts and Mi­cal Te­ja (Cap­i­tal) emerg­ing as top con­tenders.

Through­out the day, most pop­u­lar songs played re­peat­ed­ly, with some mu­sic trucks and DJs of­fer­ing joint remix­es of ‘Cyah Be­have’ and ‘En­core’.

“We (Spir­it Mas) crossed to Machel’s En­core. I would have pre­ferred ‘Cap­i­tal’ but En­core, I knew it was gonna be the one,” said one Bermu­da-na­tive mas­quer­ad­er.

Ap­prox­i­mate­ly 40 mas bands, both large and small, crossed the main stage at the Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah yes­ter­day.

For some bands, the Sa­van­nah marked the end of their pa­rade, while oth­ers chose to con­clude at the So­cadrome in the Jean Pierre Com­plex.