Thousands of Barbadians and visitors from around the region and beyond shed their inhibitions and donned brightly coloured, bedazzled and elaborate costumes to ‘do ting’ for the recent Grand Kadooment street parade.

The August 5 event closed the curtains on the two-month-long Crop Over Festival.

Spectators lined the streets to see bands such as Baje International, Blue Box Cart, Zulu International, Xhosa Barbados, Krave the Band, Ooutraje, Colorz, Fifth Element Mas, Betty West, Gwyneth Squires. But undoubtedly all eyes were on Aura Experience, who had none other than the Bajan ‘bad gal’ Ri Ri on the road with them.

View this post on Instagram ??A post shared by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Aug 9, 2019 at 2:43pm PDT

Clad in an eye-catching pink feathered custom David

Laport dress, Rihanna partied with friends on the big music truck, but not

before first mingling with the crowd and sharing a moment with Prime Minister

Mia Mottley.

Caribbean celebs were also out in their numbers,

whether on the road or performing on a music truck – among them Alison Hinds,

Lil Rick, Mikey, Stiffy, Skinny Fabulous and Problem Child, to name a few.

It was a soca lovers paradise as waistlines were tempted with tunes from every category of the genre – sweet, power and bashment from Barbados and other Caribbean countries. With the announcement that Sometime had won the ‘Tune of the Crop’ title, popular artist Leadpipe solidified his position as having the runaway hit of the 2019 Crop Over season.

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— Story by Yajirah Archibald