Insane Carnival elated with wins despite criticism over costumes

Insane Carnival will continue to celebrate their win of Band of Year and the T-Shirt Mas competition despite criticism by the public that their costumes amount to camouflage which is illegal for civilians to wear in Antigua and Barbuda.
Lenroy Browne, head of the Insane Carnival said that he was elated with the win and how the presentation themed ‘Revolution’ was received.
“We were extremely elated to know that the hard work we put in from last year when we decided to come up with the concept ‘Revolution’… to the actual portrayal on the road [and] how it was received [by the public and judges],” he said in an interview with OBSERVER media yesterday.
In 2017, one of the issues that cost the Mas Troupe the title was road management and Browne said that it was addressed by his team this year.
“Last year, we felt that road management cost us the title whereas we had a good depiction but probably were not organised as we should have been,” he said.
He added that, “once we would have come up with a strong theme, we had to manage the troupers on the road so that the beauty of the section and costumes can be seen by the judges and the general public.”
Some members of the public criticised the Mas Troupe over its use of military styled costumes, with many believing that it amounted to camouflage clothing.
However, Browne defended the band’s costumes, stating that its costume design was not illegal. He elaborated that there has never been an incident regarding Insane.
He also said that people love uniforms, comparing the costumes to a Halloween cosplay.
“When you look at [different countries], their army fete is one of the biggest fetes. People like uniforms, people like cosplay. It is no different than Halloween. I don’t hear anybody making a big deal out of it over Halloween, when people dress up and have similar type of attire,” he said.
Browne also said that many adults, including notable politicians, participate in the band to enjoy themselves.
Myst Carnival placed second for both T-shirt Mas and Band of the Year whileIcons placed third in the T-shirt Mas competition.
In the Road March competition, Gallop- Red Hot Nation came first after being played 19 times.
Menace’s song “Friends” came second while Tian Winter’s “Fete is Life” and Ezzy Rattigan’s “Syrian Soca” tied for third place.