Carnival Mas Camp 2013 continues with Erotic’s big night out.

Four mas camps were judged on Thursday night; it’s all leading up to the vibrant Carnival Road March on September fourteenth that starts at the Yarborough Green. But if Thursday night is a preview of what can be expected, then this year’s road march will be an explosion of colour, artistry and energy.  Duane Moody and Jorge Tabora got in the groove and joined the revellers. 

Duane Moody, Reporting

The final night of mas camp 2013 saw four groups being judged. As we caught up with the motorcade of officials and judges, the first stop took us to Euphrates Avenue for the Belizean Jewel camp. And with what would later be seen as a trend of bold, bright and an assortment of colorful costumes…the ingenuity and wow-factor portrayed by the groups were second to none. Belizean Jewel placed third in last year’s Carnival Road March and this year wants to take you under the sea.

Anthony Tucker

Anthony Tucker, Belizean Jewel

“We choose to portray the reef; Life Under the Sea in the year of the reef being that it is the international year of the reef. The storyline begins with the evolution of the mermaid within section one over there in the green; then we go on to the lionfish who destroys the fish and bring coral bleaching. We then move on to section three which is the pearl and what she does is bring back all the reef that was destroyed; bring back the inhabitants of the reef back to life. And then we go on to section four who is the lionfish that defends and guards the reef against all the predators.”

Janine Jones

Janine Jones, Public Relations, Belize Jewel

“We have one hundred and fifty strong revelers and every day we keep on getting new people. Just today we got ten more people. So we are anticipating over two hundred revelers this year.”

We then headed over to St. Thomas Street where Mother Nature’s Creations were demonstrating the true sense of the bacchanal. The defending champs are also bringing numerous colors to the road march.

Leroy Green, Mother Nature’s Creations

Leroy Green

“Our theme this year is love; a fantastic illustration. We do not believe that carnival is supposed to highlight or remind people of the mundane and harsh realities that face us every day. Carnival season or carnival day is to uplift people’s spirits. And we believe that one of the best things for uplifting people’s spirits is love. So that’s why we are bringing that this year. The story is a combination of aspects of our social history along with a great deal of imagination, originality and creativity and fantasy of course.  To us it is not about the idea of knocking out the other guys. It is a competition that is supposed to be healthy. We believe that if you see a particular band like Mother Nature winning every year, just try and raise your standards. Look and learn from what that band is doing instead of quarrelling and fighting up over it because they must be doing something to maintaining that standard and that winning thing every year.”

While the anticipations are high for this Saturday’s king and queen competition and all the bands are being mum about their presentations for then, Green gave us an exclusive peek at the royal entries. And boy was it a treat.

We then headed over to the Fed-Ex Parking lot where the non-competing group of Erotic Mas Band was hyper than ever. Its designer, David Matus, took jewels, feathers and an array of rich fruity colors to create elaborate costumes for some fifty-five revelers. According to Matus, his commitment in London has prevented him from competing, but will make reservations next year to come and take the title as Best Senior band for the Carnival Road March.

David Matus, Erotic Mas Band

David Matus

“The theme for erotic this year is colors. As you can see the costumes are full of colors; colorful throughout.  The creativity came from…I designed them. I came with the idea from before we knew what we were doing, we knew the color that we wanted; we knew what the theme was. It was just arriving in Belize and starting the costumes right away. We have a committed group of people who work endlessly to do the costumes from their home and then we just assemble in one location and that is the end product.”

And after several hours of nonstop music and pure unadulterated fun, I was sucked into the crowd and got my groove on…all in the spirit of the Carnival. King and Queen here we come…. Duane Moody for News Five.