Somewhere, an excited child who will be jumping in Sunshine Snacks Junior Kadooment is staring at their costume in expectation.
Over the last few days, band leaders have been distributing costumes at the various band houses as the little ones prepare for tomorrow’s big parade at the National Botanical Gardens.
Fifth Element Productions, led by Kevin Small, will be catering for anywhere between 200 and 240 children. Their theme, Fruit Snacks, marries healthy eating and playing mas.
“We’re looking at promoting healthy living in the kids. The Ministry [of Education] has been pushing a mandate to get the kids eating healthier. So this is just my contribution and my efforts to encourage healthy eating in kids, especially with the excessive rise among kids, comorbidities, obesity and so on; making snacks and fruits fun.”
Small will be celebrating ten years in 2024 and says there will be five sections in the junior band.
“I try to use my junior band as a teacher; as a teaching mechanism,” he explained. “You’re gonna have fun but you’re gonna learn something.”
Not far away from his Grazettes, St Michael base, Blackbird Productions has pitched their base at Derriston.
Band leader Sonia Price said they would be paying tribute to cultural ambassador, The Most Honourable Stedson “Red Plastic Bag” Wiltshire who burst onto the scene in 1982 and won the crown with Sugar Made Us Free and Mr Harding.
“He comes with some lovely music, lovely music. The young, the old, everybody loves his music. So, I had to pay a tribute to him,” Price said.
There are four sections – Vintage Bag, Heritage Bag, Party Bag and Bag of Praise – under the theme Something in the Music.
Frustrated with how last year played out and unwilling to bring a band, Price said after her husband Sanka encouraged her to return, she intentionally decreased the numbers from 180 to 130.
“Last year was terrible in the sense that we had to wait really long in the stadium; some long hours, the children were tired and they promised that this year would be better,” she said.
“Normally they would have judging [for] all the bands, but this year they separated the school bands from the private bands. So the school bands are going on first and then the private bands are going on after. We are hoping that this year that something happens and we don’t have to wait that long.
According to the National Cultural Foundation, 23 bands are taking part this year. Competing for the top prizes are Blackbird Productions, Colorz Entertainment, Fifth Element Productions, Hijack, Mystical, Northernmas, Royalty Junior Kadooment Band, The Lend A Hand Community Band, Tri-Star Productions and Xanté while the National Library Service will have a band on show but will not compete. There is a separate category for the 13 bands in the Sandy Lane Charitable Trust Junior Masquerade Project.
