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Flesh, footsteps, festivities - Bacchanal Road March attracts thousands

Published:Sunday | April 12, 2015 | 12:00 AMCurtis Campbell
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Rudolph Brown
Rudolph Brown
Rudolph Brown
Rudolph Brown
Rudolph Brown
Revellers march and dance in front a police car on Lady Musgrave road, St Andrew, during the road march yesterday.
Rudolph Brown
Rudolph Brown
Rudolph Brown
Rudolph Brown
Vendors came out to make some sales in the warm sunshiine.
Rudolph Brown
Some of the many persons who turned out to see the revellers go by.
Rudolph Brown
This gentleman literally gives a Bacchanal Road March participant a lift.
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Yesterday's Bacchanal Carnival Road March 2015 filled the streets of urban St Andrew with thousands of revellers and bystanders determined to bask in a day of music, liquor, and scantily clad people.

The march started minutes after 10 a.m. and grew with every step of the journey, persons without the armbands identifying themselves as officially part of the parade joining in.

Armed with refreshments, revellers gyrated on each other to intense soca music. The Seaview Gardens Marching Band was out in full regalia leading the parade, providing the only live music at this year's staging of the annual event.

The organisers might have preferred to keep the various bands separated; however, the revellers intermingled, especially when some trucks generated more excitement than others.

The Digicel, Appleton, and Pure Country trucks were followed by a large crowd and the DJs got strong responses for selections like Lucy, Vagabond and Differentology.

Some trucks were transformed into mobile bars and the bartenders were kept busy as patrons flooded the counters.

By midday, revellers were jamming in the vicinity of the Bob Marley Museum, 56 Hope Road, St Andrew. "Gwaan pon the ground now!" the DJ yelled as females bent over and put their palms on the hot asphalt. The sun did little to affect the celebration.

As the march neared Caribbean Producers Jamaica's (CPJ) offices on Lady Musgrave Road, water trucks delivered a cooling spray over the revellers, who jumped and screamed playfully.

There were no signs of conflict as the police and security officials maintained a strong presence throughout the parade, ensuring that the revellers were not disturbed by unscrupulous persons.