En­core, Cyah Be­have and Road Man were the mas­quer­aders’ and spec­ta­tors’ three top choic­es for the 2026 Road March ti­tle at yes­ter­day’s Car­ni­val Mon­day cel­e­bra­tions in down­town Port-of-Spain.

The songs by Machel Mon­tano, Aaron “Voice” St Louis and Ian “Bun­ji Gar­lin” Al­varez were played re­peat­ed­ly as mas­quer­aders from the bands Pa­parazzi, Blush, Ex­ou­sia, and Danc­ing War­riors pa­rad­ed be­fore the judges on South Quay, un­der the blis­ter­ing sun.

Cross­ing the judg­ing point first at 11 am with their pre­sen­ta­tion “Elope: Des­ti­na­tion I do,” Pa­parazzi mas­quer­aders in their colour­ful cos­tumes could not con­tain their ex­cite­ment when they be­gan chant­i­ng the in­fec­tious line of Bun­ji’s Road Man song “stage, stage, stage,” to an emp­ty stand on South Quay.