King Carnival is almost ready. Photos: Paul Spiteri Lucas

Float builders yesterday kept glancing at the sky hoping this year will not be the fifth consecutive one that carnival celebrations get rained out.

Despite a sunny spell at the beginning of the week, dark clouds rolled in yesterday while enthusiasts were giving the floats their finishing touches.

For the past four years, heavy showers have kept the colourful floats away from St Anne Street in Floriana for the Tuesday Grand Finale.

Huddled around a float that pays tribute to long-time carnival enthusiast Charles Axisa of Valletta, a group of friends and relatives were yesterday contemplating when to take King Carnival out of a warehouse in Marsa to kick off carnival celebrations in Valletta.

The late Mr Axisa, known as il-Landa, died suddenly aged 59 in 2013, after a pipe exploded in a boiler room at a hotel.

He had built the King Carnival float for 18 years and his company, made up of his four children and their friends, this year marked the 20th anniversary, with the King wearing a ring bearing the word ‘dad’ similar to one his children had given him.

It only seemed appropriate to dress the float in a Valletta and an anniversary theme

The King is surrounded by Valletta bastions, a gardjola and the remains of the old Opera House.

“When my father built the first King Carnival 20 years ago, celebrations were held in Valletta. Last year carnival returned to St George’s Square, so it only seemed appropriate to dress the float in a Valletta and an anniversary theme,” his son Clint said.

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of building King Carnival.

Not far off, Shaun Curmi and Jean Paul Bonett were just finishing off their own float, which should head to Valletta with other karrijiet trijunfali this evening if it does not rain.

Climbing down after spraying the float with a sealer to protect it from any drizzle, Mr Curmi said his team of some 12 people had been working on the float since the summer. Towering behind him, the float shows an old man reminiscing about his childhood. Surrounded with toys, he is sitting back to back with a baby – a reminder of his younger self.

Mr Curmi, who started off as a dancer with Pawlu l-Pampalun’s company (Paul Curmi is his great uncle) and then moved on to work with his uncle Oscar, a float-maker, is also marking an anniversary. Fifteen years ago he formed his own company and the father-of-three spends a whole year building floats in his free time.

When the February celebrations are over, Mr Curmi, 39, and Mr Bonett, 41, modify the float for the summer carnival and then start preparing for next year’s carnival celebrations.