In a pageant that proved the saying "Rain don' stop de carnival," 17-year-old Suzette Kelly emerged Saturday night as the queen of St. John Festival 2000.
Kelly won the judges over at the Winston Wells Ball Park as she and two other contestants braved an unexpected deluge midway through a four-hour contest.
The new queen formally began her reign along with the festival prince and princess, siblings Liyah and Imri Tonge, at the coronation ceremony Sunday afternoon in Cruz Bay Park.
In addition to taking the queen title, Kelly also won Miss Photogenic, Best Talent and Best Evening Wear honors in the competition. Anesta Charlemagne was judged Miss Popularity, and crowd favorite Latoya Browne won Best International Wear and Miss Congeniality.
The sudden cloudburst just after the end of the swimwear competition left many in the audience wishing they, too, were wearing bathing suits. The members of P'Your Passion, the house band for the show, tried to protect their music equipment from the water as spectators rushed for cover and the air hung heavy with the smell of wet hairspray.
Backstage, dry but hemmed in by shower dodgers, the contestants and their chaperones waited to see what Mother Nature would do. Queen Committee coordinator Nancy Powell and St. John Festival & Cultural Organization Committee chair Leona Smith held a pow-wow on the sodden stage with parents and chaperones and decided the show would go on.
Most of those in the crowd waited patiently, many lining up for fried chicken and johnny cakes at the concession operated by the festival committee. After a 90-minute timeout for mopping up and making electrical checks, the house lights dimmed and the competition resumed with the international segment.
A sizable segment of the audience cheered as Charlemagne appeared from backstage dressed in a cutaway ruffled samba shirt and bolero top with orange, yellow and fuchsia sleeves. Browne followed with her winning portrayal of a Pacific island maiden entering womanhood through a native ceremony. Kelly paid tribute to Gambia in a fitted shirt of swirling African prints, an elaborate bronze neck ring and a towering headpiece.
The rest of the show followed quickly with few interruptions. Kelly played the winning talent entry in pajamas, as someone rising from sleep to give thanks in song for a new day. Browne tap danced in a mini-skirt while performing magic tricks. Charlemagne donned white gloves to accentuate the gestures of an interpretative dance before a giant valentine card featuring portraits of her mother and father.
Rose pink, shimmering sky blue and burnt orange made up the colors of the evening wear presentation. To capture this segment, Kelly appeared in a floor-length sleeveless fish-tail gown encrusted with crystals from waist to hem.
