The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

THE VALLEY BOYS have bragging rights all year long since being named champs of both the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day Junkanoo parades.

The Valley Boys’ entertained thousands at the sold out festival with under the themes “From China to the Bahamas” (Boxing Day)  and “America” (New Year’s Day).

Prime Minister Perry Christie shuffled down Rawson Square as emperor, clad in a gold robe and traditional moustache leading the group to victory. The group’s performance on Boxing Day also featured an impromptu dance from Chinese Ambassador Yuan Guisen.

This year was the first time the Valley Boys performed without their leader Winston “Gus” Cooper who died early Saturday. A number of activities have been planned to honour the cultural icon’s life and legacy including a memorial service and Junkanoo rush Thursday night.  

When the group hit the streets to honour Gus Cooper’s life they will rush with the same intensity and passion that led them to the victory during both parades.

Large, vibrant lead pieces played a part in propelling the Valley Boys to first place. The group is well known for its design innovation, which they developed and improved throughout last year.

Their lead pieces were Fist of Fury and the Lincoln Train in the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day parades. Marco Mullings and Jason Minnis were the builders and designers of both lead pieces. However, the Boxing Day installation was pasted by Patrick Adderley, director of the Valley Boys and Ron McKenzie. The New Year’s Day piece was pasted by the Golden Fire Shack on Fitz Lane.

The Fist of Fury featured all of the elements that make up Kung Fu. Icons of Chinese martial arts, Bruce Li and Jackie Chan were also depicted in the installation.

“In our initial discussion of the themes all of the builders at that time expressed an interest in presenting their pieces the traditional Chinese way with the dragons and the Buddha. So our team decided that we would go in a totally different direction so that pieces do not clash because sometimes that happens. While we went in a totally different direction we were able to bring in of course the various Chinese art and mythical elements which drove the theme home as well,” said Patrick Adderley.

During the next parades the group intends to continue with the trend of including moving pieces in their lead costumes. For the Valley Boys, this element was featured in the dragon head, which presented a few challenges they hope to perfect for the next parades. Other groups have also tried their hands at moving pieces, with One Family building movement into their flying BahamasAir plane, and also a Bald Eagle although the eagle head had complications on the route.

“The head of the dragon moved and stimulated the Chinese dragon dance. We could not get it to go up and down only side to side. That is an innovation that people would see coming up in the next parades. The side to side movement was very good and it captured the eyes of the judges. It was that kind of innovation our team tried to bring to the lead costumes. For years you have these pieces that are just still, and have no movement. Our design team came up with that innovation and that is something we have been working on for a while because the piece has to move and also retain weight,” Mr Adderley said.

“It is that kind of forward thinking and innovation that the Valley Boys is known for and we just simply try to build on what was set before us,” he said.

The Valley Boys took a different approach on New Year’s Day with an America themed performance, using the Lincoln Train as the lead piece.

“We wanted to take a different direction for New Year’s and we thought that the Lincoln Train would have been a good depiction of America, (the Civil War era) and really drive home the American theme. The costume depicted the train. It was elevated and ridden by Lincoln and of course he was flanked by Indians, Barack Obama and Martin Luther King as well as an eagle which symbolizes America. That kind of captured the whole American theme but the focus was mainly on the civil war era, with Lincoln still separate and apart.

“The process in construction was very taxing. We anticipated that our competitors would produce large pieces and so from the onset we decided that we would have to produce a piece at a size that would compete if not out match the competitor,” he said.

The Valley Boys will say their final goodbyes to Gus Cooper on Saturday at 10am at the Parish Church of the Most Holy Trinity in Stapledon Gardens followed by a combined rush from the Harold Road roundabout to the Lake View Cemetery.