Caribana

3 August 2008

Every summer, Toronto blazes with the excitement of calypso, steel pan and elaborate masquerade costumes during the annual Toronto Caribbean Carnival (Caribana) Festival.

This year the Caribana Festival celebrates its 41st anniversary, the largest Caribbean Festival in North America. The three-week Festival attracts over a million participants annually, including hundreds of thousands of American tourists.



Among the highlights is the Carabana Parade, where thousands of brilliantly costumed masqueraders and dozens of trucks carrying live soca, calypso, steel pan, reggae and salsa artists tour for 1.5 km along the Lakeshore Avenue, with the spontaneous participation of the hundreds of thousands of onlookers. The night of the Caribana is one of the most busy nights in town, where thousands of tourists and participants comes from the Carribeans and the States. In fact, their own party begins on the night before the Caribana Parade.



~Quote~ Caribana was created in 1967 as a community heritage project for Canada's Centennial year. Based on Trinidad Carnival, the Festival now also includes the music, dance, food and costumes of Jamaica, Guyana, the Bahamas, Brazil and other cultures represented in Toronto - the world's most culturally diverse city.


Let the pictures and colours tell it all...