Kings and Queens

This year, we were looking forward to the Kings and Queens competitions. We were not disappointed, and ended up staying much longer than last year. Both the winner from South Trinidad and a popular Port of Spain competitor, Brian McFarland, had to contend with strong winds knocking over their costumes. Interestingly, McFarland is opposed to using wheels in his designs because he considers them an impurity of costume design, which makes building a perfectly-balanced 20-foot dragon even more of a challenge. The last queen’s costume fell off the front of the stage and she wiggled there for a few seconds until I ran up and pushed the wheel back up so she could continue the competition. I love how Trinidad’s size makes it possible to be involved.