The annual St. Thomas Carnival festivities continued with live performances from a variety of queens, troupes, majorettes and steel pan orchestras who were all a part of the Children Parade. This event was televised throughout the Territory and the Caribbean Region.

Event goers lined the parade route that began at Altona and ended at the Lionel Roberts Stadium where parade participants performed their final ensembles. Spectators were sheltered from the sun as they sat underneath a sea of colorful umbrellas. They cheered and clapped loudly upon the completion of each performance.

The Emancipation Garden Post Office is where the judge’s booth and media entities are set up. It is also where troupes are judged for their performances.

Some of the judge’s criteria includes unity, theme, costumes and whether each group finished within a given time frame. For the most part, the competition was fierce because all of the participants wore beautiful costumes and their dance steps were unified. This year there were thirty five entries in the parade.

The Children Parade opened up with Grand Marshall Na’Kaya “Princess KeKe” Esdaille. This was followed by the 2015 St. Thomas Carnival Princess T’Kajrah T’wanna T’Oniqua Wharton & Court Tyel J. Gifft Ja’Sonique K.C. Roberts. Then to grace the parade route was the 2015 St. Thomas Junior Calypso Primary Division Jah’Syi “The Mighty Jah’Syi Narcisse, Intermediate Division Ny’Kel “ Prince Short Shirt Emanuel and the Secondary Division Maurice “King Maurice” Hansby. Then marching while twirling their batons was the Charming Twirlers Majorettes. The Addelita Cancryn Phoenix Pan Jammers were performing popular calypso tunes with their steel pans.

This is how the parade started and as it continued it was fun to watch the children perform. There were a lot of proud parents who took pictures of their child/children who partake in this parade. There were also people who were there to support and celebrate this carnival event. Since I am not a parent, I was there just for the fun of it and the truth of the matter is, I had a ball.

It was nice to run into old friends, celebrate the festivities with new comers and to support the children in their flawless performances. The atmosphere was rich with excitement, entertainment and talent.

The St. Thomas Children Parade was very entertaining and I hope to see you there next year!

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