While most spectators at yesterday?s Gombey Festival in Dockyard were entranced by the dancing or the beat of the drums, Janice Warner Tucker was keeping a careful eye on something else ? the costumes.

That?s because the sixty-something grandmother has been making Gombey costumes since she was just 13.

?As a little girl I sat around with senior costume makers ? it used to fascinate me,? she told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

Ms Tucker?s mother, Audrey Warner Waite used to instruct her on the painstaking work. A single costume takes about two months to make.

Ms Tucker?s vibrant costumes are all handmade, with lots of beads, sequins and embroidery work.

Yesterday, her latest creation was on display ? her 66-year-old brother, Llewellyn Warner, who has been a Gombey for 63 years, was dancing to the beat of the drums in a one of a kind Tucker creation.

She teaches her family how to make the costumes as well.

Ms Tucker also has a knack for Gombey doll making. She will be selling her dolls for $150 out of Bees Knees on Front Street shortly, and they can be found on the Crown Dynasty cruise ship.

Ms Tucker?s latest feat was making 14 costumes for Sandys Secondary Middle School Gombey dancers, which was founded by her brother.

More than 500 people turned out to support the two Gombey groups that performed at yesterday?s Festival.

The H&H group and the Warwick Gombeys put on a high energy performance with Gombeys as young as two-years-old.

At the festival, the late Charles Ebenezer Norford Sr. was honoured for his contributions to the Gombey tradition in Bermuda.

His grandsons Eugene Tuzo and Donald Norford received plaques in honour of their grandfather.

Gombey researcher, Gary Phillips said Mr. Norford came to Bermuda from St. Kitts in the 1920s, bringing his masquerade regalia with him.

?Research shows that Mr. Norford can be justly cited as the father of a renaissance that saw the re-emergence of this folkloric dance after a period of inactivity,? said Mr. Phillips.

Mr. Norford, who died in 1947, had a major influence on the Gombey movement in Bermuda, he said.

Gombeys had been on the Island since 1761, but Mr. Norford was instrumental in establishing the Gombey tradition as we know it today.

In the 1920s, he formed the Norford Group, of which he was captain for over 20 years.

Minister of Community Affairs and Sport, Dale Butler said yesterday he was very pleased with the festival, which is his first as Minister.

He promised to work ten times harder next year to bring more people out.

Mr. Butler said the festival was a good event for visitors and he handed out about 100 Gombey postcards to them at the festival.

Next year Mr. Butler will give out a write-up of the Gombey history, have more postcards and books available to attendees.

?They (tourists) have heard about it at the Smithsonian (Folklife Festival) now they can witness it,? he said.