WILLEMSTAD — People look back on the 42^nd edition of the Gran Marcha with fixed feelings. Some even speak of a carnival crisis. There were fewer groups this year (23) compared to 32 last year. It was a small parade but splendid nonetheless. The 42^nd edition of the big parade had been a colorful street festival.The carnival groups had presented a large variety of themes last Sunday. Grupo Caché with the theme nostalgia had rivaled with the other groups, certainly as regards four customs representing a film. The participants for the film Jaws had worn sailor outfits with a shark, attempting to snap at their stomach, followed by the Grease girls with their high tails, a black Mary Janes, boys with quaffs, and the Sound of Music, the ultimate romantic musical from the sixties.

Standing at the head of the float, Yolaine Johannes, the carnival queen of Caché, represented film star Jessica Lange (Naomi Watts) in the film King Kong. She imitated the blond actress who had been carried by the giant gorilla. The ViVa and Prestige groups had treated the spectators to a beautiful spectacle with colorful customs. Prestige had represented the flourishing Africa with the theme Mombassa, the second city of Kenya, from which city ivory, millet, sesame and coconuts from the countryside were exported to other areas along the Indian Ocean. The city is also the home of the Swahili culture, as expressed by the participants with the necklace of wooden beads and the beads on their footwear heard during dancing movements.

Grupo Isla had had the most ingenious float with the theme Fantasia di Cactus. The float consisted of an impressive lizard, shaking his head back and forth, and two birds eating the fruits of a cactus. A click was heard when the beaks touched the red fruit. Giovanni Abath had made these designs. Carnival is also about the atmosphere besides the colorful costumes. The stands along the carnival route were crowded and the public enjoyed the spectacle thoroughly. The farewell parade and burning of Rei Momo will conclude the Curaçao custom festival this evening in Otrobanda.