The Savannah

Here we go!  The Queen's Park Savannah is the primary focal point for many events during Carnival.

Port of Spain, from an overlook point.  Downtown is on the left, and the Savannah is the bright area near the center.

A closer view of the Savannah.  The Sydney Opera House-looking building to the left is the National Academy for the Performing Arts.

The Savannah is a humongous field, with a 1-way roundabout circling it.  Here is a view sitting from the grandstand, where tonight the Carnival King and Queen competitors file in from right to left.  On Saturday, the 100+ member steel bands will be pushing across and performing here.

The South side stands.

One of the Junior Carnival King entrants.  Each picks a song to dance along with and display their costume for judging.

Looking to the right, you can see the huge costumes of the main Kings and Queens getting staged.

It's hard to tell from the picture, but there is one person in each of these costumes.  In this one, the person's head is just overlapping the bottom of the black and white spiral, and they have their arms spread out.

You can get a sense of the size from the people behind the stage.  The costumes are stunning, sometimes with flashing LEDs or small fireworks.

An announcer describes what each costume represents.  Each runs about $10,000 USD and takes several months to build.

The rules used to be that the wearer had to fully carry and support the costume, but now wheels are allowed.

Although wheels and support structures are legal, each still must be mobile and movable without help by the single person inside.  This has made it all the way from the staging area to the right.

A back view of this Phoenix costume.  They are able to dance and move around amazingly quickly.  Sometimes the costume will break or fall over, and sometimes the wearers get injured.

All the costumes are judged, and a Carnival King and Queen are selected.  On Carnival Monday and Tuesday, each of these costumes (not just the winners) is accompanied by a costumed group of dancing people for parades throughout the city.