PHOTOS: Name village after Paido, says Cottoy

The gathering at the Calypso competition in Road Town is one of the smallest each year, but organizers are expressing glee that a larger than usual crowd showed up this time round.

“It’s very good to see the crowd here,” Chairman of the Virgin Islands Festival and Fairs Committee Trefor Grant told the audience last evening, August 2.

A similar sentiment came from Lavida Cottoy, who is in charge of the Calypso competition. She noted that she had only two weeks to put the show together.

“I think it was a really good show… We had about two weeks to plan this show,” she told patrons while she expressed gratitude to all who contributed to the cause – including the seven competitors.

The contestants included winner Eustace ‘Colosso’ Freeman, second place finisher Reynold ‘King Paido’ Phillips, and third place finisher Titus ‘Rocky’ Crabbe. The others are Shereen Flax-Charles, Algernon ‘Macko’ Mathavious, Gaverson ‘Falco’ Frett, and Roland ‘Chico B’ Veira.

“Without the calypsonians, there would be no show,” Cottoy further told the audience.

She, in the meantime, used the opportunity to present King Paido with a special award on which the following sentence is inscripted: “In appreciation of your valued participation in Calypso for the past 22 years – from 1995 to 2017.”

Cottoy also promised to lobby to have the Road Town festival named in honour of King Paido next year.

She noted that, each year, she tries to award a Calypsonian who is deserving of honour.

“In all the years I have been doing Calypso, I try to honour everyone who I think deserves it. I honoured Rocky before; I honoured Rankin Joey; I had the village named after Racky. And I hope next year we can have the village named after King Paido,” Cottoy further said.

Meanwhile, the band that backed the contestants is Crunch Time. There were guest performances by Tino, Sherwood Charles from Althea Scatliffe Primary, as well as Shabazz whose performance was arguably the best seen last night.

Here are some photo highlights:

ll as Shabazz whose performance is arguably the best seen throughout the night.

Here are some photo highlights: