From ba­bies to teenagers, young mas­quer­aders took over the streets of Mara­bel­la yes­ter­day, trans­form­ing them in­to a sea of colour, mas and en­er­gy.

Jump­ing, wav­ing and danc­ing to so­ca tunes blar­ing from mu­sic trucks, mas­quer­aders from 15 Car­ni­val bands put on a spec­u­lar show as they pa­rad­ed their beau­ti­ful cos­tumes dur­ing the Mara­bel­la Fes­ti­val Coun­cil’s Chil­dren’s Car­ni­val 

So­ca star Machel Mon­tano’s Pardy and Bun­ji Gar­lin’s Car­ry It, both Road March con­tenders, were played re­peat­ed­ly dur­ing the cel­e­bra­tions.  

Va­lerie Mitchell, the coun­cil’s vice chair­man said they have been host­ing the event for the past 34 years and were hap­py with the turnout of bands and spec­ta­tors. 

Not­ing that there was some un­cer­tain­ty fol­low­ing the clo­sure of Car­rat Shed, which was their spon­sor for the past 34 years, she was hap­py that oth­er spon­sors came on board.

She thanked TECU for pro­vid­ing the prizes, Awardy Hard­ware and Gen­er­al Sup­plies for pro­vid­ing the venue for cel­e­bra­tions and South­ern Marines Steel Or­ches­tra for pro­vid­ing ad­di­tion­al en­ter­tain­ment free of charge.

Mitchell al­so praised Car­rat Shed’s for­mer own­er Al­lan Camp­bell for 34 years of yeo­man ser­vice. 

Awardy Hard­ware’s own­er and Coun­cil mem­ber, Skafte Awardy, said he was proud to be part of the event, en­sur­ing the chil­dren could en­joy Car­ni­val fes­tiv­i­ties.

Some of the bands who pa­rad­ed yes­ter­day in­clud­ed An­ra Bobb and Friends, B Man & Lord Street Fu­sion, House of Jack­ie, JCE Mas Pro­duc­tion Sparks Lega­cy, Eyes Wide Open and June An­drews and As­so­ciates.