April 28, 2009 — With dozens of steel pans ringing and the Rising Stars' trolley bouncing the wrong way down Main Street, talented island youth knocked Carnival up a notch Tuesday with the Pre-Teen Tramp.
The youngsters set the stage for the elders' venue, the traditional Seniors' Quelbe Tramp, which later gathered like a storm at Rothschild Francis "Market" Square and then rolled out down Main Street to Tolbod Gade at the edge of Emancipation Gardens Park.
Tuesday's tramps warmed the crowds up for the parades that will climax this week with J'ouvert on Thursday, the Children's Parade on Friday and the Adults' Parade Saturday — and far into Sunday morning.
The sunset tramp Tuesday gave the Rising Stars another chance to show their stuff after their performance Sunday at Steelband Jamboree. The drummers carefully tuned up on General Gade across from the old Bank of St. Thomas building as elementary and middle school students filled Market Square at around 6 p.m. island time.
In an rare scene reserved only for hurricanes, emergencies and Carnival, police closed Main Street to traffic and made way for the children, many of whom sported their school colors as they followed the trolley's slow, musical progression through downtown. Moms and dads held digital cameras overhead or joined in by banging hubcaps, ringing cow bells or scratching gourds as the tramp passed Drake's Passage, A.H. Riise and the downtown post office before coming to a halt in front of Little Switzerland and Emancipation Gardens Park.
The Rising Stars' trolley listed and bobbed and swayed to the beat, bearing billboard messages for youth such as, "Nothing is so complicated that it can't be simplified by hard work" — a message the drummers seemed to know well as they skillfully entertained the crowd and added their tune to Carnival 2009.
The festivities continue Wednesday with the Cultural Fair beginning at 8 a.m. in Emancipation Garden, followed by J'ouvert at sunrise on Thursday.
Back Talk Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.
