NASSAU, BAHAMAS – Shell Saxons Superstars Co-chair Kendenique Moss yesterday described the group’s New Year’s Junkanoo Parade sweep as “absolutely fabulous”, insisting the group could not be denied after the performance they displayed.
Saxons swept the parade, taking the top spot and all categories with their ‘Bahamian or Nuttin’ theme.
“We are feeling absolutely fabulous” Moss told Eyewitness News, as group members and supporters celebrated in Mason’s Edition.
“It’s been a long journey. We’ve had one or two hiccups in terms of getting here, in terms of getting exactly where we are but it’s been a long-fought battle.
“We want to say thank you to our sponsors. We put in the energy. We put in time. It took a lot of hard work. It took a lot of dedication and the unity is exactly what brought us together for us to win.”
The group took first place for best music, best free dance, best step down, best off-the-shoulder, best lead costume, best choreograph, best performance, best banner, and best Shirley Street performance.
Moss said winning the music category was very coveted for the group.
“Music has been a very sore spot, because you have persons that are senior musicians in world top class bands, but we have rooted grounded college men that are musicians,” she said.
She continued: “We had music this morning and that’s the Saxons of the old…We had the same thing for Christmas, but they took it from us. The music was powerful. You felt that bass when we were coming up the boulevard.
“You couldn’t deny us. You couldn’t deny that music this morning. When the Saxons open the gate, all you had to say was ‘tings, tings, tings’, because we had the parade…The Saxons were unbeatable this morning.”
Saxons earned a score of 84.62 after being penalized one point.
The Valley Boys, which performed under the theme “The Games We Play”, placed second in the A category , earning a score of 81.44 after being penalized.
One Family came in third place with 81.10 points and Roots placed fourth, receiving a score of 76.39.
Genesis Warhawks did not perform at the New Year’s junkanoo parade.
Parade Management Team Chairman Anthen Mortimer said the group did show up but decided not to parade. He did not indicate why.
As for the B category, Colours won with 78.33 points; Original Congos were second with 64.94 points; Fancy Dancers placed third with 64.45 points; Conquerors for Christ placed fourth with 59.44 points; Body of Christ were fifth with 58.23 points after being penalized one point; and Redland Soldiers placed sixth with 57.24 points.
The results were announced shortly after 2 p.m. at Trinity Methodist Church on Frederick Street.
The Valley Boys was named the unofficial winner of the 2019 Boxing Day parade, securing 81.44 points, and Saxons Superstars placed second with 80.01 points.
The results have been hotly debated on social media with fans and junkanooers questioning the fairness of penalties given the inclement weather that saw the Boxing Day parade delayed by two hours.
Several groups have reportedly protested the results.
Yesterday, Moss said the group still feels robbed by the Boxing Day parade, confirming that the group has filed a protest to their score.
“They beat us by 1.43 [points]”, she said.
“And if all the penalties were applied the Valley Boys would have come third.
“This is not a crying of ‘we won the parade’. Let fair be where fair is. Now we’ve lost the parade. No problem, we came second. We will take that and run with it.
“It has been a very long time since the Saxons has won and entire parade – 1995 to be exact – and we cleaned up with everything…We had this parade. You took it from us before [but] we’ve regained it.
“If we keep the unity and love of the group, we can go to higher heights.”
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