The Carnival King & Queen Costume - Carnival 2k7

 

  1. Caribbean Carnival tradition follows that the procession is lead by the band with two of their best-dressed characters ‘The King and Queen’.  In order to find this pair there is a contest for the judges to decide the best characters of the registered bands for 2007.

 

  1. Traditionally the King and Queen costume contest has taken place on the weekend of the Caribbean Carnival itself, however in an attempt to make the event more accessible to the general public the Caribbean Executive committee has agreed with Alex Walker (Museum Officer) to hold the King and Queen costume contest in the Harris Museum.

 

  1. This year the King and Queen costume contest will take place on Saturday 19th May 2007 in the Harris Museum.  Starting at 1.30pm the best dressed characters of each registered procession band will be paraded in the Museum and hopefully onto the Flag Market were the BBC Blast project will be also running.

 

  1. It’s anticipated that most of the 15 or so local bands and other outside bands will participate in the contest.

 

  1. Last year the King and Queen band was called ‘Purple Haze’ and lead by Phil Duncan.  The group consisted of many young women and young men from across the city, they were dressed in a purple and gold coloured costume.

 

  1. As well and many local bands making up the procession, it is hoped the procession will also consist of external bands from Newcastle, Bradford, Barrow, Nottingham, Leeds and London.  These bands are guaranteed to make the procession even more colourful, exciting, funky and sexy.

 

  1. During this extravaganza it is planned the ‘Mall Monster’ will join the festivities on the Flag market.

 

  1. Also during the morning of Saturday 19th May 2007, artist Jane Blackburn will be running Carnival mask making workshops till 1.00pm.  These workshops are open to any young people who would like to

learn some carnival skills and possibly make some Caribbean Carnival masks for use on Carnival day.

 

  1. Comment from the chairman Ronald Clarke;

“The costume contest is always a very tense one for the bands, which register to enter the costume contest.  The young people in each of the bands have worked very hard for many weeks to create their costumes and this can prove to be the crowning acknowledgement for all their hard work.  Either way all the bands will have a wonderful time on the day”