St. Lucians celebrated their Carnival last Monday and Tuesday, ending a week of competitions leading up to the final masquerade. 

The National Carnival Queen of Saint Lucia show saw the beautiful Xenia Douglas crowned Carnival Queen after beating back eight rivals. Douglas (Miss BOSL Wise), amassed 521 points, six points clear of first runner-up Shaniah Richards (Miss Chestertons); second runner-up was Kejean Smith (Miss Massy Stores). The pageant was held at the Royalton Saint Lucia Resort and Spa, Saint Lucia.

On Sunday, the Vigie Playing Field came alive as the nation’s top five steelpan orchestras locked horns in the National Panorama championships. When the dusts settled, Courts Babonneu Steel Orchestra led the field with a great rendition of Carnal Knowledge. Second and third place went to LUCELEC Pantime Steel Orchestra and Pantastic Muzik Steel Orchestra respectively.

The mas band “Tribe of Twel” took first prize in both the King and Queen of the Band competitions.  Tribe also took second place in the race for the Queen while the Xuvo Carnival Band took the third spot. Island Tribe and Xuvo Carnival bands took second and third in the King competition.

In the National Calypso Monarch competition, Dezral, son of the Mighty Pep, fought off eleven competitors to claim the crown.  Dezral won with his compositions Legacy, and Calling All Saints. Second place went to Ti Caro with his compositions Na, and King’s Fury; Walleigh with his songs Tribute to Vada, and Outside, took third.

The finals were held last Saturday at The SAB, Vigie Playing Field. The show was live streamed via the Carnival Saint Lucia Youtube channel and Facebook page. 

The Soca Monarch completion is split into two categories and is now called the Groovy and Power Soca Monarchs.

Nine singers competed in the Groovy segment while the Power soca segment saw ten performers.

In the end, Saint Lucia crowned two new soca monarchs. The results are as follows:

Power Soca: 1^st was Ricky T with his performance of “Live Life” (Mal Palé); 2^nd was Ti Blaxx with his “Purge Them Out”; Qpid took 3^rd place with “One In A Million”.

Groovy Soca: The clear winner was Fross with a catchy song called “Eat Man Money”. With lyrics like “God made Man, Man made money and God made Woman to eat man money”, Fross was a shoo in. Second place went to Ricky T with “Done”. The number three spot was taken by Dhirv 2 Funny with “Are You Dumb”.