Distribution of Grand Kadooment costumes is at an advanced stage.
That was clear as hundreds of masqueraders visited bandhouses to collect their costumes last weekend.
Blue Box Cart’s bandleader Sheena Gill said: “We are distributing early as usual, so far, everybody has been very happy. The numbers are reasonably strong.”
She said they were hoping to take about 600 to 650 people on the road tomorrow.
Their theme for this year is Fusion and will feature sections Northern Lights, Sun & Sakura, Mystical Isles and Desert Oasis.
Gill acknowledged that there were challenges associated with producing a band, but she said seeing a successful band was rewarding.
“It is so fulfilling to watch your hard work when you see what you have accomplished on the road. Seeing people having a good time on the road you’re like ‘let’s do it one more time’. That has been the case for past 30 or 40 years,” she said.
Masqueraders were eager to collect their Sun Mas wristbands and Kadooment costumes.
Customer service manager, Tiara Broomes, said the band would be taking just under 2 000 masqueraders on the road.
She said despite a few challenges, the distribution process went well.
“We started on Monday. We had a few hiccups here and there like any other band. A couple people came in for minor adjustments but it was nothing we couldn’t fix.
“The turnover rate was pretty quick. The process was fairly smooth,”she said. In addition to Grand Kadooment,
she said they were looking forward to Sun Mas – their attempt at staging a twoday jump up. “I am very excited especially for tomorrow [Sunday]. I am really excited to see the turnout,” Broomes said. Sisters Nicole Williams and Toni Williams were so excited that they tried on their backpacks at the distribution centre.
“It’s our first time in Barbados and our first time participating in a carnival-like celebration outside of the United States,” Nicole said.
Sold out
At the Hilton Barbados Resort, co-director and head of marketing at Vida by Esquire (VXE), Ryan Codrington, reported that more than 1 000 masqueraders will be jamming on the road.
“We sold out earlier on in the month and very grateful for that. We were very careful to maintain our numbers in comparison to last year as we are aiming for slow, steady growth. But we are extremely satisfied and grateful that the public felt the need to join us for another year on the road and saw the vision that we saw for making the band what it is today,” he said.
Last year, VXE won the Large Party Band award.
This year’s costume centre on the theme Soaring Songbirds, a reprise of what was meant to be the band’s inaugural concept for their planned debut in 2020 before the Covid pandemic delayed the staging of Kadooment that year.
Masqueraders made their collections at the Hilton yesterday, where band members were on hand carefully boxing feathered backpacks and costumes into packages.
Some firsttimers such as Justine Burke and Angela Crawford, were filled with anticipation for the spectacle of Kadooment.
Burke, who resides in Dallas Texas chose to celebrate her birthday in Barbados with her friend Crawford who lives in DC.
The two were drawn by the colourful Volcano sections and were immediately sold by the easy and responsive service they received from VXE.
“Honestly, we started planning our trip very late and we looked at a few bands but we really liked the website and the responsiveness of the Vida team on Instagram. The website was easy to navigate, all the outfits were so beautiful and everyone said they had a great time jumping with Vida,” Burke explained.
Reveller Grace Pooler experienced her first Kadooment last year with VIDA, an experience she described as the best day in her entire life.
“It was really incredible . . . I keep reliving it in my head and I don’t know if it was because it was my first jump but they made it so easy for me. Every process that I went through was really easy,” she said. (JRN/TG)
