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San Fer­nan­do Car­ni­val may have been short of $200,000 this year, but mas­quer­aders, young and old, slim and volup­tuous, be­came liv­ing brush­es, splash­ing the city’s grey can­vas with ri­otous paint, mud and pow­der. In the south­ern dawn, J’Ou­vert blos­somed, wild and un­bro­ken, across the as­phalt in what San Fer­nan­do May­or Robert Par­ris be­lieves was the “biggest J’Ou­vert in the coun­try”.

Eigh­teen bands com­pet­ed for tro­phies this year, de­spite the ab­sence of prize mon­ey. Par­ris told Guardian Me­dia the San Fer­nan­do Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee want­ed to make a state­ment with this year’s cel­e­bra­tion, re­it­er­at­ing his plea that San Fer­nan­do needs bet­ter treat­ment re­gard­ing fund­ing, as it is the coun­try’s sec­ond city.

Kalicha­ran Mas co-band­leader, Ster­ling Ma­hase, who played with DJ Ana and Ul­tra Sim­mo’s Glam Jam J’Ou­vert, said that de­spite the fund­ing con­straints, every­one was en­joy­ing them­selves. “Next year will be a bet­ter year. Hope­ful­ly, we get prize mon­ey so every­body is just fet­ing and hav­ing a good time this year, and it is a big turnout,” Ma­hase said.