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Nothing Succeeds Like Excess At Adults' Parade

May 2, 2009 — While the official slogan of this year’s Carnival may have been "Echoes Through Time," the unofficial and pervading theme at the climactic Adults Parade Saturday was definitely "Big Girls Rule" — the song that kept things bouncing and shaking from 10 a.m. till well after sundown.
Perhaps no one put a finer point on that theme than Sen. Celestino White who, dressed in drag and with drink in hand, made his way down Main Street along the parade route with ample padding around the middle beneath a white dress and surprisingly flattering wig.
"This is incredible! Look at these costumes," said Philadelphian Rob Gehlert to his friend Nina Painter as one of the more tasteful troupes danced by. The two were traveling on a cruise ship and said they stumbled into the fun around 1 p.m., just when things got hot.
"It’s great seeing everyone having so much fun," Gehlert said after sampling a rum concoction called "root," served up by a friendly vendor in dreadlocks and gold teeth.
"I just want to know who’s going to carry us back to the ship?" he said after another taste.
Spectators lined the streets from the Western Cemetery in Anna’s Fancy through downtown, from Post Office Square all the way to Lionel Roberts Stadium, where Grand Marshal Sen. Shawn-Michael Malone and hundreds of onlookers enjoyed each troupe’s final performance. Locals mingled with cruise ship passengers and tourists from Puerto Rico and elsewhere to view the more than 50 colorful troupes, bands and clubs that marched and danced by all afternoon.
Virgin Islands Delegate to Congress Donna Chistensen was seen dancing in place in the viewing stands across from Government Hill as the Virgin Islands Paradise Dance Twirlers majorettes performed for the VIP’s at Post Office Square. And Gov. John deJongh Jr. squinted in the sun to see some of the colorful costumes that trooped by his front-row seat.
Old timers staked out sweet seats beneath the canopy of Market Square, giving them an overhead view and some envy-inspiring shade from the midday sun.
Homegrown talent was on display and eccentricity was the norm.
With bodies painted and spears in hand, the King Shaka Zulu Nation troupe had fans dancing alongside a jungle-covered truck to an African drumbeat in the heat of the day. The jumbies of the Dominica Cultural Roots coaxed several women across the parade security lines to bump and grind in the street. Spectators almost fell over each other trying to get photos of the beauties in the Ultimate Experience Dance Troupe’s Show Stoppers and Little Divas.
Saturday’s parade was a lot of a good thing.
As the last troupes filed into the stadium at dusk, weary dancers worked it up one last time, framed beneath flaming sunset clouds on the stage. At last light, the pink-clad dancers of the Hugga Bunch Show Stoppers and Door Knockers roused the last of the crowd before the party moved a few blocks down to Carnival Village.
Cleanup crews followed the troupes to sweep and shovel and rake piles of trash along the parade route, and Carnival 2009 finished out the night with the fireworks finale over St. Thomas Harbor and the infamous "last lap" into the morning hours.
Sunday will be time to clean up and recover — and start thinking about Carnival 2010.
Check out Community/Other stuff pages for more Carnival photos.
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