It is set to be a packed Kensington Oval tonight for one of the most eagerly anticipated calypso battles of Barbados’ Crop-Over Festival. The Met Office predicts a few scattered showers, but the real storm will be on the inside where four previous monarchs, the Mighty Gabby, Adrian Clarke, John King and reigning king Red Plastic Bag, will be in a ding-dong battle to add yet another crown to their individual tally in the Pic-O-De-Crop competition.Tassa, perennial finalist TC and newcomer Crystal will seek to achieve the glory that has evaded women since Queen Rita took the coveted crown in 1988. Colin Spencer, a favourite with the pundits, will be hoping to turn previous near misses into what many believe is a long overdue title, while Party Monarch champion Blood should bring quality and experience to the stage that date back to his teenage days.Sheldon Hope – for many a dark horse – is expected to draw from his excellent vocal ability to make an impression on the discerning judges.In addition to the prestigious crown, the winner will receive a new, fully loaded 1600cc Ford Focus car, compliments of McEnearney Quality Inc. According to some box offices, ticket sales for the contest have been going extremely well.Supervisor at Nu Look Boutique, Meko Broomes, said she had to call for more batches of tickets because people were buying them out. A&B Music Supplies reported a similar response. “The sales are going well; a lot of people are asking for more. We do not have many left. We actually just called NCF [National Cultural Foundation] for more,” a sales clerk there indicated.Another sales clerk at Jeans Inc., who also chose not to be identified, said sales were going really well and that tickets were almost sold out.Corporate communications specialist of the NCF, Wayne Simmons, said judging from ticket sales, the public response had been “very good”.The combatants will appear on stage in the following order: Spencer, followed by Blood, Hope, Tassa, Gabby, Clarke, King, Cummings-Beckles, Red Plastic Bag and TC.The show starts at 8 p.m. and MC for the night will be Mac Fingall.
