The Queen’s Park Sa­van­nah shim­mered with colour, cre­ativ­i­ty and child­hood pride yes­ter­day as the Red Cross Chil­dren’s Car­ni­val marked its 70th an­niver­sary, de­liv­er­ing what or­gan­is­ers de­scribed as the truest form of mas — imag­i­na­tive, com­mu­ni­ty-dri­ven and root­ed in pur­pose.

More than 3,000 chil­dren crossed the Sa­van­nah stage in a spec­ta­cle of hand­craft­ed cos­tumes, draw­ing ap­plause from par­ents, artistes and pho­tog­ra­phers who gath­ered to wit­ness what Red Cross Chil­dren’s Car­ni­val Com­mit­tee Chair­man Ronald Halfhide called “the re­al mas be­fore the big mas.”

Bands of chil­dren, some bare­ly tall enough to see over the edge of the stage, crossed in waves of hand­craft­ed splen­dour — vi­brant fab­rics, tow­er­ing head­pieces and metic­u­lous de­tail­ing that drew cheers from par­ents, pho­tog­ra­phers and vet­er­an mas mak­ers alike.