Patrons entered the NCC building early Sunday evening to the sweet sound of African drums, provided by a group of drummers placed on the auditorium stairs. They might have looked at the enchantingly decorated stage and sat back preparing themselves for a memorable evening.

But they would have become suspicious when they saw the programme listing 26 items. This pageant was going to be a long one.

And who could have prepared the patrons for a pageant which saw so much singing and dancing that it took one hour for the contestants to appear in their casual wear, having treated the audience to a tantalising opening dance?

Co-organiser of the pageant, Lorri Alexander’s promise to start the show promptly at 7:00 p.m. did not materialise and things got under way one hour after the scheduled time. Alexander, who along with his wife, Paula Alexander are the organisers of the annual event, had said he was aware that school was reopening the following morning and he wanted to get children and parents home early to prepare for the hectic day.

“Things na regula!” were the words shouted by members of the audience when the show failed to start on time but Alexander’s excuse to them was that Guyanese people were always late and even though he said 7:00 p.m. most persons were turning up for 8:00 p.m.

Finally the pageant commenced with about 15 minutes of drumming followed by lengthy greetings from pageant co-ordinators invited to the show from Trinidad & Tobago and Suriname.

Young, black, beautiful, intelligent and talented are the words which could be used to describe the contestants, except for two of them who fell short in answering their questions and introducing themselves. Kudos must be given to the other contestants who gave superb performances, especially in their talent pieces. But because they were forced to share the night with so many others, their performances were engulfed in the long tiring night.

Many in the audience thought the Alexanders should have given the entourage invited from Suriname, a night for themselves since they used up more than an hour of the pageant time. But not to be outdone the local performers were in strong competition with their Surinamese counterparts.

After appearing in some casual apparel and introducing themselves flawlessly (except for Brotherson and Marcus who stumbled throughout their speeches), the girls reappeared and gave the audience a treat in the talent segment.

First runner-up Claudette Moore won the talent segment with a dramatic rendition of a poem and by belting out a well-known Bob Marley song.

But Primo was also superb in this segment as she captivated the audience with a well-choreographed and skilful dance. All the contestants performed well in this segment and managed to give the audience a taste of rich African culture.

In the evening wear segment Primo looked splendid in a close fitting white gown, which was completed with gold and burgundy colours at the hem. It was complemented with white puffs at the arm and the wrists.

A gold and white headpiece gave her the look of an African Queen even before her name was announced. The same could be said for the other eight contestants who all looked beautiful in their chosen outfits.

The girls were questioned on the great contributions made by persons of African descent and most of them had their answers at the tip of their tongues. But Brotherson, who must have had stage fright, when asked to describe the black ancestor of Queen Elizabeth, went off track by saying that Queen Elizabeth was a powerful black woman! She was not spared by some in the audience who started to make loud noises, and it took just a few seconds for the humiliated young woman to run off the stage and never to appear again.

The competition finished at about 1:00 a.m. and patrons began to voice their objections after half an hour had passed and there was no word from the judges.

This did not go down well with Mr Alexander who was at the microphone. He informed the audience that it was a night of African culture and that they would have to wait on the judges to decide. He said the donkey could be taken to the water but not made to drink it, implying that those in the audience, even though they were at the pageant, did not appreciate African culture. At this, most of the audience stormed out of the auditorium.

By the time the queen was announced mainly relatives and friends of the contestants remained to congratulate her.