By Andre Bagoo Sunday, February 10 2013

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ChaRrisse Bovell displays her costume 'The Joy of Paradise' at the Queen of Carnival 2013 competition at the Queen's Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain on F...

MAC FARLANE Queen of the Band Charrisse Bovell walked home with the Queen of Carnival title early yesterday morning after beating a pack of ten — including the North Queen and the favourite to win.

“My God, I am in total disbelief,” Bovell told Newsday moments after being announced as the winner. “This is a miracle handed to me from God. I was fifth in the preliminaries and tenth in the semi-finals. I just could not understand why I was not up there with the favourites. I asked God for a miracle tonight and I guess God was with me.”

Bovell was the defending title holder, having won last year with “Mother of Humanity — The Weeping Madonna”. But she was this year trailing behind hot crowd favourite Liselle Frauenfelder whose original and distinctive “The Dance of Reconciliation” had topped both previous rounds. Bovell made a great comeback on Friday night, dancing “The Joy of Paradise” — a large phoenix-like bird with wings and orange plumes that moved to her body’s motions — to tassa. The costume, designed by Brian Mac Farlane, was a crowd favourite at the Queen’s Park Savannah, earning 429 points.

Second place went to Frauenfelder with 413 points. The costume had a series of interlocking circles, each dressed in differently coloured plumes, with gold fabric and sequins shimmering as it moved whenever the masquerader shifted. Designer of the costume, Maurice Halfhide, expressed disappointment that it did not win on his Facebook page yesterday.

“Thank you very much, you all have made me feel a bit better about it this morning. This will be the costume people remember and that is a great feeling,” he said.

Third place went to Kay Mason with “From Darkness to Light” with 406 points in a costume that was an explosion of pyrotechnics when it came onstage.

Other crowd favourites included Cherry-Ann Patrice Valere who portrayed a bride, “Lady of the Day”, walking onstage to the Wedding March with a flower-girl and a ring-boy, kissing her “groom”, releasing two pigeons and even throwing a bouquet to the audience. Her large all-white, lace-like costume placed sixth with 382 points. Another crowd favourite, Arima Queen Roxanne Omalo, placed eighth with “Aurora — A Luminous Phenomenium of Light and Beauty”, which earned 374 points.

In the battle between daughter and mother-in-law, Laura Rampersad and Gloria Dalsingh, Dalsingh came out on top in fourth place with “Hera’s Sacred Bird” (390 points) as opposed to her daughter-in-law Laura Rampersad, who took seventh place with “Goddess of Light and Beauty”, earning 382 points.



QUEEN OF CARNIVAL RESULTS

1. Charrisse Bovell, ‘Rakuen No Yorokobi (The Joy of Paradise)’, 429 pts

2. Liselle FrauenFelder, ‘Danis Wantaim – The Dance of Reconciliation’, 413 pts

3. Kay Mason, ‘From Darkness to Light’, 406 pts

4. Gloria Dalsingh, ‘Hera’s Sacred Bird’, 390 pts

5. Charmaine Enile, ‘Symphony in G, the Heavenly Mix’, 384 pts

6. Cherry-Ann Patrice Valere, ‘Lady of the Day’, 382 pts

7. Laura Rampersad, ‘Goddess of Light and Beauty’, 382 pts

8. Roxanne Omalo, ‘Aurora – A Luminous Phenomenium of Light and Beauty’, 374 pts

9. Rose Marie Kuru-Jagessar, ‘Pte-San-Wi (Teesanwi): Carrier of the Peace Pipe’, 371 pts

10. Avernell Johnson, ‘The Evolution of the Amazon Lady’, 357 pts.