The Shell Saxons Superstars was declared the unofficial winner of the Boxing Day Junkanoo Parade in the A category - the second straight victory for the group. In the B category, Colours Entertainment was victorious, beating out One Love Soldiers by 14 points.
Chairman of the Parade Management Committee Douglas Hanna revealed the unofficial results shortly before 7 p.m. at Arawak Cay. Under the theme "Encounter the Magic Kingdom of Atlantis - Behold Its Mystique and Wonders", Saxons, which won the parade with 4,344 points, edged out One Family by 45 points.
In total One Family, whose theme was "Salute to Jackson Burnside - As We Knew Him", received 4,299 points. Coming third was Roots with the theme "Salvation - The Fulfillment of Isaiah's Prophecy" with 4,091 points. Valley Boys, under the theme "Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece", was fourth with 4,007 points.
Prodigal Sons, under the theme "China is Here - Building a Better Bahamas through China Relations", got 3,284 points. And Music Makers with its theme "Featured Events and Miracles of the Bible", brought up the rear with 2,041 points.
As usual, there was some controversy surrounding the unofficial results, with some of the losers in the parade calling into question the order of the winning groups.
Members of the One Family group in particular are questioning their second place finish. Long time member Silbert Clarke said he believes that One Family should have won. Saxons beat One Family by 45 points.
"We were bamboozled," Clarke said following the results.
"Last year, the results were the same even though the people themselves said we won the parade. As warriors we will raise, we will be on Bay Street New Year's Day. The results are determined by people who don't want us to win."
Several other group members echoed his sentiments.
Another member, who didn't want to be named, said "It's always either Saxons or Valley. They give us a win every now and then, but mostly it's Saxons and Valley. One Family is the clear winner. Ask anyone who was at the parade," the group member said.
However, Saxons presentative Shaun Adderly said the Saxons deserved the win.
"Right now I feel like we should have [won by] more than that because we blew out the parade," he said.
"We have the biggest and prettiest costumes," he said, adding that the group's costuming set it apart from the rest.
Saxons won the top spot in the costume category, and Saxons, One Family, and Roots took the top three spots in most of the major categories. In music, Roots was third with 1,052 points, Saxons got second with 1,118 points, and One Family won that category by one point with 1,119.
Valley got fourth in music with 1,023, Prodigal took the fifth spot with 952 points and Music Makers was sixth with 549 points.
In the best Shirley Street Performance category, One Family got first with 1,118 point, Saxons got second with 1,083 points and Roots got third with 1,052 points.
In the best choreography category, One Family won with 274 points, Saxons got 242 points, Roots got 226 points, Valley got 224 points, Prodigal Sons got 208 points and Music Makers got 105 points.
In the B category, Colours Entertainment received 1,956 points; One Love got 1,942 points; Fancy Dancers got 1,832 points; Original Congos got 1,702 points; Conquerors for Christ got 1,702 points; Red Soldiers got 1,680 points; and Body of Christ got 960 points for seventh place.
Click here to read more at The Nassau Guardian
