Pamela wins after 25 years

I was expecting a more exuberant reaction from first-time 2005 Queen of Carnival Pamela Gordon when questioned about her win. The die-hard masquerader has been participating in the competition for 25 years without let up. Her two successive North Queen wins are incomparable to the significance of a Queen of Carnival title, a national title.

“I’m happy, excited, you know that kind of feeling!” she said. It was evident that she was concealing more than she was showing. “The title means that I’ve accomplished what I’ve always wanted to do and I have to keep up with that standard of costuming.” Thankful to her costume designer Follette Eustace, who is also costume designer of four-time King, Curtis Eustace, she said: “At Dimanche Gras I tell myself this is the final night and I have to put my best foot forward because there are people up all night (for several nights) working on this costume and I try to display it to the best of my ability.”

Not many people would know, but Pamela’s planned pyrotechnic show for Dimanche Gras failed, when “I was pressing the buttons and nothing was happening. When that happened I told myself I needed to make some extra movement, I just had to try a little harder and I think that by the pyros not going off, it made me dance a little more,” Pamela smiled. And dance Pamela did, to the judges favour. Her costume was titled “Fly High Pretty Butterfly.” The veteran mas’ player said, win or no win, the nervousness was ever present. “After doing it for a long time you still get a little butterflies.”

Only someone with a love for Carnival, she said would persist in such an event, despite the odds. Undeterred by a fourth place finish, last year, Pamela reinvested her time, energy and money. “Every time you go into the competition, you think that your costume stands a chance. But I still look out for the seasoned campaigners like Inez Gould and Anra Bobb. They always have outstanding costumes. They are normally the consistent ones. The Woodbrook spinster, who is employed with the Ministry of Finance, returned to the gym and stuck to her squats and weight training routine. “I started a bit late but I went to the gym and did a lot of work. People would eventually realise (why) after they saw me being ‘tortured’ at the gym.”

Born and bred in Woodbrook, Pamela calls her hometown the home of mas.’ And, she said it was inevitable that she would develop a love for playing mas.’ She explained: “Living in Woodbrook, you were among all these bands. I lived near George Bailey and his camp, and listening to the music, you got accustomed to the spirit. “I played mas’ with Bailey as a child — ‘Bright Africa.’ I think that was his last band. It was a bit different then. There were less people and older folks. Then, too my friend had big sisters who used to bring out sections and they encouraged me to play.” Pamela said that it would be a welcome change, though, to see new and young people enter the Queen of Carnival competition. “Soon our time would be over. We need people with that kind of dedication to keep mas’ up at that level.”