By CHESTER ROBARDS

Tribune Senior Reporter

crobards@tribunemedia.net

THE VALLEY Boys swept the Boxing Day Junkanoo Parade, grabbing the top spots in all categories to win overall after the unofficial results were called last night.

The group might have hit Bay Street last, but they took first place in the off-the-shoulder, free dancer, lead costume, choreographed dancers, music, best banner and Shirley Street performance categories.

Arawak Cay erupted with cheers when it was announced that the Valley Boys had won overall. The group’s theme was “A Celebration of Queen Elizabeth the Second”.

The top-seeded Saxons also had a similar theme, but could only grasp fourth place yesterday. In the end, Roots and One Family bested the group, which hit Bay Street first.

The groups will be allowed to protest the results up to 48 hours after the end of the parade.

The parade, which has often been criticised for its late starts and gaps between groups, began on time – just after midnight – yesterday and ran smoothly.

Minister of Youth Sports and Culture Dr Daniel Johnson said he was impressed by the organisation of this year’s Boxing Day parade.

He added that the parade seating was almost completely sold out. He suggested the addition of 10,000 more seats for next year’s parade.

Prime Minister Perry Christie told The Tribune yesterday that Junkanoo might have outgrown Bay Street, and that the groups and government might want to look at relocating the annual festival.

“I’ve always liked Bay Street. It’s a great tradition here, but I don’t know that you could really serve all the people who would like to come and be comfortable in coming on this route,” said Mr Christie.

“Other countries have built sites for this kind of things, so we have to look at it to ensure that enough people can see it and it’s something that i’m going to take a great interest in.

“What’s going to have to happen here is we are going to have to emphasise people and being able to accommodate the number of people who would like to come and, as you can see, it’s a capacity crowd this year.”

He said he will have discussion with the Junkanoo groups about the possibility of moving Junkanoo off Bay Street.