Two persons were made royalty last Saturday morning when the 2004 version of Marriaqua Carnival got underway at the Cane End Playing Field.
The Miss Marriaqua Queen 2004, which was coupled with the Marriaqua Calypso King show, got off to a late start just as it had last year. Seven calypsonians made their first appearance, followed by performances from the six young ladies who were vying for the chance to be crowned Miss Marriaqua 2004. {{more}}After the girls, six guys and one lady had their second chance to do their kaiso stuff.
When the dust cleared, Miss Petroglyphs, Victoria Dowers, wore the queen’s crown as did calypsonian Selwyn “Man Jinny” Delpesche.
Dowers, a student at the Emmanuel High School Mesopotamia, stole the show as she amassed the majority of points to take the top spots in the interview, evening gown and swimwear segments of the show. She was, however, outdone by Miss Montreal Gardens, Debbie Samuel, in the talent segment. Samuel had earlier burst into tears during her interview but gathered herself enough to eventually place third in the show. Miss Rivers, Ronique Dowers, sponsored by KFC, was second.
The girls were all named after tourist attractions in the Mesopotamia Valley. The other three girls were Miss Mountains, Iyasha Horne, Miss Green Gold Bananas, Romalda Ferdinand and Miss Spa Water, Cordelia Baptiste.
In the calypso arena, second place went to Glenroy “Sashi” John with two renditions entitled “AIDS” and “Tribute to Calypso”. Third was Lorraine “Exile” Dascent with “Carnival Jam” and “This Land”.
Other participants were: Natasha “Misty” McMillan with “It’s In Me” and “Don’t Stop”, Paul “Gold Dust” Tesheira, Patrick “P’Tani” Jackson and Trevor “Brado” Diamond.
Inspector Johnathan Nicholls was the MC with Dynamic Guys and the band Rage providing musical accompaniment.