Junior Kings and Queens parade

The sun blazed upon the sparkling blue and white feathers and flowers of little Korrie Cario’s costume, Princess of the Nylon Pool, as she competed in the Junior King and Queen of Carnival preliminary round yesterday morning. Seven-year-old Cario was one of more than 200 children who dipped and swirled, jumped and waved in front of the judges at Adam Smith Square in Woodbrook.

For Cario and the other tiny tots, only their parents turned out to lend support judging by the expanse of empty seats in the stands. This however, did nothing to dampen the spirit of the little ones who played their mas and had a great time.

One-year-old Logan Cameron displayed his costume, A little oil spill, with the help of his father’s guidance had the small crowd gathered cheering him on from the individual category. With his small body almost disappearing into his costume made in black and outlined with shimmering gold trimmings, little Cameron dance to Iwer George song ‘Savannah’.

They were all vying for one of the 20 finalist positions - ten Junior Kings and ten Junior Queens - in tomorrow evening’s finals (TUESDAY) at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain. Nigel Eastman, chief judge of the competition, told Newsday that the categories this year include individuals, historical and creative topical, with 48 Junior Kings and 48 Junior Queens.

In addition, 130 girls and 75 boys entered the individual category. “I think everything is in place as before, the event is well put together although there have been some cutbacks due to the downturn in the economy.”

“There are a lot of financial constrains but the prizes remains the same but we have cut in different areas. The stand is a little smaller this year, we have cut back on luxurious items but basically everything is the same. It have seen around the same numbers of registration because each band normally send two Kings, two Queens and individuals,” Eastman said.