Bands turn it up at Victoria Square

Mac Farlane’s Threads of Joy was the first band to pass. They started by playing Patrice Roberts and Machel’s "Band of the Year," which seemed to be Tuesday’s early favourite as it was played numerous times throughout the day.

Rosalind Gabriel’s Mas in yuh Mas was next portraying ole-time mas characters followed by Trevor Wallace and Associates’ The Joker is Wild. The masqueraders in that band put on a choreographed performance for the judges dancing to "Band of the Year" once again. The leader of the mas band, Festival’ 06, turned heads with her costume which was little more than a blue thong, silver pasties on her breasts, and paint. The rest of the band members were relatively dressed, energetic and seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.

Poison was extremely large this year. It consisted of two separate bands — Morocco and Dreams — each of them having more than ten sections, taking well over an hour to cross. At the head of Morocco’s "Ricco Soldato" section was President George Maxwell Richards, his wife, and guests dressed in orange and surrounded by uniformed police and the President’s security detail.

At noon, spectators were surprised to see a difference in costumes. A band came on in all-white and fully covered. The skirts of that section were Peter Minshall’s trademark and although there was no banner, everyone knew the band to be "Sacred Hearts." Minshall himself was seated on the back of a white van, dressed in black, sheltered from the burning sun with a white umbrella.

Trini Revellers’ Rome — the Empire entered at 12.30 with fanfare. Here was another large band with more than 20 sections — each colourful and creative — complete with props.

There were uniformed policemen standing on the sidelines helping to keep things under control. However, some female masqueraders could not help themselves and "took a wine" on a few policemen who did not reciprocate, but took it in good fun.