Who will reign over the Carnival?

On Friday, the annual carnival motorcade throughout the streets of Belize City gets underway. This will be followed by the revered competition of the giant costumes on Saturday night at the Marion Jones Stadium in Belize City. This year, an impressive ten junior bands and six senior bands will participate in the 2017 King and Queen Competition. Vice President of the Carnival Association, Patrick Thompson explains.

Patrick Thompson, Vice President, Belize Carnival Association

Patrick Thompson

“We have sixteen bands competing and each band is allowed to bring two costumes; one king and one queen. So we will be having a total of thirty-two costumes this Saturday at the 2017 King and Queen Competition. We have and I must say again, big kudos to the junior band that is coming all the way from Seine Bight. They are not a new band; they were in couple years ago and I much say this year, they are much more improved and they are ready for this carnival 2017.”

Duane Moody

“So what are the judges going to look for in the King and Queen Competition?”

Patrick Thompson

“Well the judges will be looking for how much the band portray the theme that they are displaying; the mobility of the costume and the use of colors for the costume because you have to blend the colors for the carnival season. You can’t just be bringing any dull colors cause carnival is bright. So that is what the judges will be looking for: the mobility, the bringing your costume to life and as well the use of colors.”

The costs for tickets are ten dollars for adults and five dollars for children. The competition starts at five p.m. with the prejudging followed by the playing of the giant costumes by the revelers.