Costumed revellers in the streets of Kingston yesterday. - Dennis CokeSUNDAY AWOKE reluctantly.
Threatening grey clouds pregnant with rain hid the sun. It was an ominous sign for Carnival organisers, Bacchanal Jamaica and Jamaica Carnival, who had spectacular plans to climax the 2001 Carnival season with separate road marches.
The gloom that painted the morning canvas carried over into midday when the festivities began. Even before the sheets of rain came down only a handful of followers were on the streets.
Last year's throng was estimated to be in excess of 200,000 but one police inspector yesterday estimated the crowd at a little over 100,000 people.
Both Carnival companies, which got going around midday, had separate starting and climaxing points for their revel and mas (costume) bands. Jamaica Carnival started on East Kings House Road and ended at Liguanea Park on Oxford Road. Bacchanal Jamaica started at Mona High School and ended at their Oxford Road Mas Camp.
The weather was like a wet blanket that sapped the verve of the handful of participants following the costumed revellers. Some onlookers stood at their gates, while others peeped from their windows and doorways.
Popular 2001 Carnival songs like Te Lay Lay, Insomnia, Kim, Trimble It, Accident and Carnival Baby, among others, jumped from the speakers of Sparkles and Skyy discos to ignite the revellers. Defying the weather they jumped and gyrated; flailing their arms and kicking their legs skyward.
There were 1,100 revellers from Oakridge Boys, Frenchmen and Revellers, Inc. with an explosion of colours that would have shamed the rainbow. The costume groups combined shocking orange, deep purple, blazing green, blood red, blue and other colours teased with silver and gold.
