Sunlime Mas gets Latvian

For one night only it was all about Soca, Mas costumes and Carnival FUN 

By Stephen Weir All photographs by Anthony Berot

Sunlime mesmerized almost 500 fans of Carnival on Friday night in North Toronto.  It was almost a full house for the annual Sunlime Mas Band Costume launch.

Using the theme of Mesmerize, over 70 male and female models took to the stage of Eglinton East’s  Latvian Cultural Centre with one mission in mind – Hypnotize the willing audience into joining the Mas Band!  Using colourful, bare-as-you dare costumes and contemporary dance moves, the 10 sections were successful in capturing the attention of the crowd.  Most of the costumes were sexy, no matter your size, while some, including a Rasta costume for men, was downright fun!

“While most other bands lost masqueraders last year we continued to add for the third year in a row,” explained band spokesman Niles Koski. “We're expecting to continue to grow with more sections and more masqueraders and be even better this year (because of Friday’s launch)!”

“This is our fourth year as a band and the number of masqueraders we've put on the road has grown significantly every year,” he continued. “We had 580 masqueraders last year and expect continued growth again this year.”

The Latvian Hall has been used for a number carnival events over the past 5 years, the Sunlime fete was apparently the first costume launch for the building.  Another first?  The MC for the night was long time reggaecise instructor and voice of the Caribbean Carnival Kevin Carrington.

“I believe this was my first band launch, I really enjoyed myself.” Carrington told the Caribbean Camera.  “All of the models and costumes were awesome. It was nice to see some of the other bandleaders come and support too!”