- Norman Grindley /Staff Photographer THE defining moment of Jamaica Carnival 2002 came last Sunday afternoon when thousands of spectators from all socio-economic classes crammed themselves around and behind the Byron Lee and the Dragonaires truck in the middle of Half-Way Tree, St. Andrew.
Viewing the scene from the roof of a nearby building, one was nailed to that particular moment in time as East met West; uptown met downtown; 'sketel' met 'hottie hottie' and corporate gurus met jobless labourers in a sea of people surging along in a human tidal wave of emotion.
According to police estimates, at least 40,000 persons lined the Constant Spring/Half-Way Tree Road area to catch a glimpse of this year's parade. The road march remained largely incident-free because of the deployment of a strong contingent of police personnel.
"We have more than 200 police personnel in Half-Way Tree alone, a strong contingent of red-seam officers, motorcyclists, plain clothes, bike patrols and response team officers," said Senior Superintendent Lola Evans, commanding officer for the St. Andrew Central Division.
Earlier, thousands of people had lined various sections of the route. Some spectators chose to huddle under bus sheds to dodge the sweltering midday sun, while others fought for 'freebies' from the trucks of sponsors or camped out with food hampers in the backs of pick-up trucks.
Vendors hawked whistles, caps, beverages and water bottles while the revellers formed 'soca-sandwiches' and gyrated to this year's carnival hits such as Sak Passe, Biting Insects, Trinidad and Tick Tock. The crowd was also thrilled by some energetic sessions of 'outercourse' by revellers on the hot pavement.
In keeping with the 'heat' of the season, this year's Jamaica Carnival costumes were centred around the 'Exotica' theme, which conjured up images of sexual energy. From the deep reds of 'Temptation' to the sharp midnight blues of 'Taboo' to the shimmering gold and white and feathery boas of 'Xanadu', the Jamaica Carnival march was ablaze with colour.
A 22-member group from Curacao, Estrene di Pikete (Happiness in the Jungle) provided an offbeat element to the Jamaica Carnival parade with their quirky combination elephant-zebra-snake-lion-and-gorilla headwear.
The costumes of the Bacchanal Jamaica road parade were centred around alcoholic drinks with titillating names such as Cocktails and Dreams, Ciclon, Strawberry Daiquiri, Mai Tai, and Ladies Night.
As the trucks began to crawl through Half-Way Tree, some spectators commented that the road parade seemed more low key than in previous years.
"It come in like the thing 'water down' bad bad, the music not hype like in years gone by," one female commented.
Still, the crowd entertained itself, with some women opting to poke fun at the sexuality of tights-wearing men, or at the appearance of overly rotund female revellers. Some of the trucks played a number of carnival hits from previous years such as Toro Toro and Footsteps to reclaim the interest of the large Half Way Tree crowd.
The Bacchanal Jamaica revellers, who had a steady supply of alcoholic beverages, gyrated and jammed under an almost cloudless blue sky and searing conditions from Wellington Drive, down Old Hope Road, through Trafalgar Road and Half-Way Tree back to the Oxford Road Mas Camp where they partied some more.
The Jamaica Carnival road parade, which began at the Liguanea Prep School, snaked along East Kings House and Lady Musgrave Roads, before following the Bacchanal Jamaica parade on to Constant Spring Road. The parade then proceeded down Half-Way Tree Road before eventually coming to a halt in the Cross Roads area where a rollicking street party began in earnest.
The IRIE FM truck, which brought up the rear of the road parade, featured dancehall artistes such as Wayne Marshall, Mr. G and Bling Dawg, who kept the crowd entertained with a live show studded with a stream of big dancehall hits.
