~ Karabana ~

First there is the Mardis Gras in Hamilton. A lot of Toronto bands aren't sending music trucks, but that doesn't mean that you can't walk with your costume and take a jump. Its always been a good time and hopefully this year will be no different. We were there for their first year when hardly anyone knew about it and it was nice... so it can't be any smaller

If you aren't feeling the drive to Hamilton, and you are looking for a cool family vibe and the kids have been bugging you to take them to the water park Then Westfete (Brampton Carnival) might be a way to kill two birds...

And on Sunday Toronto Revellers is having a Potluck lime at the mas camp, so that is another option.

Hello Masqueraders and Supporters:

Despite the challenges we faced this season. We, the Toronto Revellers organization are blessed by God's grace. We endured.
Before moving forward into next year and next season, we must give thanks for surviving this season.

Therefore, in keeping with the Revellers mission of being the Peoples Band, we will be having an Appreciation Evening on Sunday, August 7, 2011 at the Mas Camp from 5.00pm to 9.00pm.
Lets's make it a fun evening.

Those of you who take pride in your culinary skills, we will be delighted if you would bring one of your specialty dishes to share with us.

See you all again soon!

That appears to be a theme for Caribana 2K11... but more on that in a bit. My experience this year was different, and not only because we played with a different band.

We registered online with Toronto Revellers on May 30^th. We decided on Revellers for a few reasons, mainly because we always heard positive things about their customer service and security, which are important for us. As the years go by and the stormers don’t decrease but increase, we feel security is necessary when playing mas on the Lakeshore. Also, as costume prices continue to increase, we expect great service from the band to be included in that price. Having Machel didn’t hurt, either! So I chose a costume that I liked & felt would suit me.

Registering online was easy, as was communication with one section leader Stacey. She always promptly responded to my emails/phone calls for the 2 months, and was friendly and helpful. Of particular concern to me was that the headband headpiece would stay on, and she assured me it would, they’ve been testing it. I thought all the emails she sent showed attention to detail, like letting our section know about an opportunity to have MINX nails done, how our characters are to be portrayed before the judges, (including sending Wizard of Oz video clips), and the change in route map.
Where communication slipped was with costume pickup. We received 2 voice messages on Wed. that the Winkie Guard costumes wouldn’t be ready on Wednesday after all, but on Friday. That put a kink in our plan to drive to Scarborough only once. Trini-in-Toronto drove on Wednesday evening from Brampton to get mine, only to be told mine was also not ready, come back on Friday. Pretty upsetting! Stacey did apologize for that, saying we should have been told, and explaining they took many last minute orders which delayed them. So I agonized for 2 days over whether the headpiece would slip off, and worried that I didn’t have enough time to make any adjustments to my costume if it didn’t fit, which is often the case.

When we went for our costumes at @3:00 on Friday, my waistband was sized & we got them immediately. We got glitter (even the Winkie Guards), glitter stickers, gems, and makeup tips, which was thoughtful for those who are makeup challenged such as me. I had my doubts when seeing the string bra, and the headpiece didn’t feel like it would be secure as is. I figured if it’s windy, it can fall off. But once I tried everything on, I was sooooo relieved, everything fit! I super glued a wire headband under the headpiece headband so it stuck into my hair, and am thrilled to say it didn’t slip off! My boots were comfortable, so no probs there, & no rips in my fishnets, even though I had side chains dangling (just like last time in ‘08!) I’ve never played a character before, & I must say, I enjoyed it, having a particular wicked witch in mind, it made makeup fun.

We judged the band, being #6, would get started in the afternoon, we estimated @3:00. Well, as I told Trini-in-Toronto a few times on Saturday, “I go take de blame!” With the new parade route, the normal entrance to the assembly area was further away, so we had to walk very far through the seated spectators past Carnival Nationz, and finally caught up with Revellers who were finishing going before the judges at @3:00, later than we would have liked. We asked about lunch, found the lunch truck, but it was closed, so we got distracted by the drinks truck. Eventually, we got a ¼ chicken. We heard different stories about what happened to the rice. Hmmmm...? It was awkward trying to eat a greasy piece of chicken with no fork or napkin.

Anyway, talking about drinks, I must say while having bar service is a nice unexpected surprise, what was really essential was WATER! Why was there none?

FYI band leaders: There is a lot of different information available about how much water you should drink while being active outside in the heat. An average is to drink 2 - 4 glasses (16-32 ounces) of water each hour. If you exercise you should drink another 8 ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you are active. If you drink alcohol, you should drink at least an equal amount of water! And when you sweat a lot, you especially need to replace fluids. I saw several masqueraders being carted away on the medical carts (incl. someone pictured in this post). Now I don’t know what the causes were, but I can’t help but wonder if they were drinking enough/any water? This lack of water was a serious complaint from many masqueraders from several bands.

Band vibes were nice while they lasted, which felt like ½ hr. I was most surprised by the amount of stormers in a “secure” band. At first there were a few, and security was putting them out. When we’d leave for the drinks truck, there were too many, so we’d try & make our way back into the security of the orange fencing. Hah! I kept hearing “are we in the band?” I’d look around, and yup, we were inside the fencing – along with stormers. Steups. After awhile, we stopped trying to figure it out since there were stormers inside and outside, basically, everywhere. I noticed that eventually the fence holders were just holding up the fence, not really securing us, throwing non masqueraders out. And really, watching it, I can’t blame them, there were just too many to contend with! And I observed they really could do just one thing, either throw people out, or hold the fence. Which would you chose if it were you? Now I don’t know if the hour was to blame, or that CNz was behind us - but for all intents and purposes, the stormers won, they infiltrated the band. It felt like there was an equal number of stormers to masqueraders. I did my part by telling them to leave, and by not allowing non costumed guys to wine on me. Oh, but to the guy who did, & when I looked back & asked if he was in costume, & he said yes, but I didn’t see one, so I told him no! & pushed him off, but turns out he was in Tin Man, I apologize!

So I must answer if this was in fact Carib2KHeaven? Well, I seriously worked my butt off in Survivor Bootcamp, (THANKS Rick!) and sweat up a storm at Curves. (Big hey to Galactic Tango Tanya!) I felt Wicked & no, not purple, but I'm quite happy with my costume choice. Mas certainly wasn’t stormer free, even with a fence, but I have experience now of what it’s like playing past #3, even with security. Heavenly band treatment? Communication started off great, had one screw up. For 1^st time section leaders, I felt they still did a good job, I know there will always be mistakes, no one is perfect, & I’m sure the having costumes done on time lesson is learned. The band was lacking in food & water on the road. The music, ahhhhh, I couldn’t tell you, I didn’t really notice it! I mean, I saw Machel for a bit, but after that, ???

So overall, it appears from my previous list, that what I got, what I’m most pleased with was my costume!

Alright, right about now I should be excited about Hamilton Mardi Gras, because even when something puts a damper on Caribana, there's always Hamilton and then Barrie... but Revellers is saying they are not going. I seriously hope this is just the same unfortunate thing they (bands) put us through last year, where at the 11th hour, the bands announced they are going after all. We'll have to wait & see...

So back to the parade, how was it for you??