There was no army of masqueraders behind Ken Douglas as he danced along Warren Street toward the Caribbean Carnival judging stand by Franklin Park. There were a dozen or so costumed dancers with his masquerade band, Suave.
In some ways Douglas appeared to be swimming against the current, as he lugged his massive wheeled, 12-foot-high presentation along the up-hill parade route amid a procession of sound trucks leading T-shirt-wearing revelers. Costume bands like Douglas’ have declined precipitously in Boston’s Carnival from the days when a dozen or so of them competed with upwards of 120 masqueraders in tow. But Douglas is not giving up on Carnival.
“I’ve been doing this for years,” he said. “I’m going to keep at it until it builds back up to what it used to be.”
There are several reaso