The announcement was made at Arawak Cay Saturday night, seven hours after the Bay St. parade where approximately 50,000 turned out, according to a police estimate. The announcement of the scores drew thousands of people as well and became an event on its own.
As soon as the Saxons, with its 3,800 participants entered Bay St., it appeared as if the majority of spectators in Rawson Sq. were screaming and shouting to show support for the group. Many spectators who spoke to The Guardian said the more than 100 judges had no choice but to concede victory to the Saxons. The breakdown of the overall scores, including the theme of the groups in the “A” or major category is as follows:
1. The Shell Saxons Superstars ﾖ The legends of Atlantis ﾖ 2196 points.
2. One Family ﾖ A magical, mystical journey ﾖ 2166 points.
3. The Prodigal Sons ﾖ The mystical travels of Marco Polo – 1977 points
4. The Valley Boys ﾖ Many faces of India ﾖ 1939 points.
5. Roots ﾖ Discovery of the new World ﾖ 1798 points.
6. The Music Makers ﾖ Glory and splendour of Great Britain ﾖ 1330 points.
The breakdown of the overall scores, including the theme of the top three groups in the “B” category is as follows:
1. Fancy Dancer – Bringing the news to the nation and the nation to the world – 321
2. One Love Soldiers – All aboard ﾖ 317
3. Colours – “We playin mas! Bacchanal Time ﾖ 293
4. Conquerors for Christ – 292
5. Congo – 288
6. Chipping Nights – 286
7. Nassau Village Darlings – 263
8. Mystical Bomers – 237
9. Musical Legends – 202
10. Tingum – 178
11. The Pigs ﾖ 172
Other groups in this category included Sting, Foundation and Montel Heights Rockers.
There were three groups in the “C” category, including Musical Youths, Aztec and Bain Town Crusaders.
In total, 26 groups participated in the parade, 6 in the “A” category, 11 in the “B,” 3 in the “C” and six “fun” groups. There were also 19 individual performers.
The parade began at 2 am Saturday and ended around noon. It was postponed five days ahead of its December 27 schedule due to winds in excess of 20 knots (24 miles per hour). The rescheduling of the parade to Jan 1, forced the postponement of the New Year’s Day parade to Friday, Jan. 7.
Some delays
Minister of Youth Sports and Culture, Neville Wisdom said he was satisfied with the organisation of the parade but acknowledged that there were some “short” delays between the performances of a few groups due to technical problems. In one incident, he explained that a costume from one of the groups became entangled in wires, which took a while to unravel.
Mr Wisdom also noted that the National Junkanoo Committee (NJC), not the Ministry of Youth, had the sole responsibility of judging the parade.
A Junkanoo Corporation of The Bahamas observer predicted the Saxons victory saying the group was well organised and produced “extremely beautiful” costumes. He also praised the 40-year old group’s music, saying its long-time rival, the Valley Boys’ music was paled in comparison.
“Well the Valley Boys was organised but their music was a bit flat and their costumes weren’t alive,” he said.
“Roots was a little bit live, but I don’t think they even had the energy as the Valley Boys.” He said The Prodigal Sons was impressive and described its choreographed section as “serious and awesome.”
Mispah Moultrie, a Saxons fan, also predicted victory for her group. “Saxons is number one and Roots is number two in this parade,” she exclaimed. “The Valley took a very long time to come to Bay St. and there were some gaps in the parade.”
Only few arrests
Regarding security matters, Police Press Liason Officer, Supt. Hulan Hanna said police made several arrests but the parade overall was without any major incidents. He said one person was arrested with possession of a small amount of dangerous drugs, believed to be marijuana. Four people were arrested for disorderly behaviour and two people were arrested for unlawfully carrying arms (knife and screwdriver). He said the individuals arrested are expected to be charged with the offenses sometime this week.
Supt. Hanna said the police were well prepared to handle the incidents as dozens of uniformed officers were patrolling the entire parade route; an even larger amount of plainclothes officers were on duty monitoring the crowd.
“We’re using detective officers, officers from the drug unit and just general duty officers. We put in some extra fencing in certain areas and that has helped us. And I think people are paying heed to what we said, and that is that we’ll promptly deal with any situation.”
By MINDELL SMALL,Guardian Staff Reporter mindell@nasguard.com
PHOTO CAPTION: Staff Photo by Donald Knowles
FEELING IT – A Shell Saxons Superstars free dancer seems to embody the spirit of the 2004 Boxing Day Junkanoo parade Saturday morning. The Saxons went on to win the overall parade.
