Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival parade heats up the city with rhythm, culture and costumes
By Marc Ellison Staff Reporter, Robin Levinson Staff Reporter, Published on Sat Aug
From The Star
If the sequin-strewn cement at Exhibition Place is any indicator, the 46th annual Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival was a glittering success.
It’s the largest festival of its kind in North America, and organizers estimate 1 million people packed the grounds for Saturday’s Grand Parade. In addition more than 30,000 masqueraders, dancers and drummers marched in the festivities.
Although masqueraders are decked out in sparkling rainbow bikinis and elaborate headdresses, their feet stay practical for the all-day parade. Asia Amal, who wears sensible denim slip-ons, estimates she walked seven kilometers since arriving at 10 in the morning.
Although the costumes leave little to the imagination, the girls say the festival is about feeling comfortable in your own skin.
“All shapes and sizes, that’s what makes it better,” says Karma Santiago, who wears purple and yellow plumes reminiscent of a Caribbean sunset.
*The parade wrapped up at 6 p.m. but hours later a 17-year-old teenager died after he fell off a float, according to Toronto police.
Paramedics said the incident happened just before 9 p.m. in the Lake Shore Blvd. W. and Dowling Ave. area.
Earlier in the day, like finely-tuned athletes limbering up for a race, thousands of parade-goers in bejewelled costumes and iridescent headdresses jigged and sashayed on the spot to a cacophonous wall of sound.
Dancers applied a last sprinkling of glitter to their torsos in the event’s assembly room at Exhibition Place, as intestine-shaking reggae and soca music blasts from dozens of speakers strapped to flatbed trucks.
For Gemma Nicholson, 64, this is the tenth year she’s taken part in the carnival parade. Today she’s dressed as an octopus, with eight crimson legs sprouting from the elaborate costume that took four months to make.
“For me, this is a time that I can forget my everyday cares, and enjoy myself to the fullest,” she says smiling, the black and red sequins crinkling on her face.
And just as importantly, Nicholson says the carnival allows her to retain a connection to the country she left over 40 years ago.
“I left Trinidad and Tobago when I was very young,” she says. “And while I’m proud to be Canadian, it’s still important for me to not forget my roots.”
But conversely the carnival is also an event that can help grow roots.
Canadian-born Kenya Hyman, a 17-year-old from Ajax, is another of the estimated 16,000 dancers taking part in Saturday’s parade.
She explains that while her parents are Jamaican she has yet to visit the country herself.
“So the carnival helps me appreciate the Caribbean culture,” she says. “And even though I haven’t visited yet, it makes Jamaica feel a little bit like home.”
Nicole Grimmond, 28, who’s gone to the festival every year since she was born, says Toronto’s festival is better than ones she’s been to in Brooklyn and Miami.
But she says, one thing about this year’s celebration caught her off guard: the cover charge.
“I’ve been coming for 28 years and all of a sudden I have to pay?” In years past, the festival only charged for reserved stadium seating. But this year, multiple participants say they were surprised to be charged a flat $20 at the door.
“It was just a shock and it was disrespectful to all the people who come here every year,” says Rochell Solomon, who’s been going to the festival for over ten years.
“The event started in 1967 on what was Canada’s 100th birthday,” says festival organizer Herrera-Jackson. “So the carnival was a gift that the community gave to its new adoptive home.”
The organizer says there are approximately 500,000 people in the GTA who belong to the Caribbean community, mostly from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, and Guyana.
“This event is meant to be inclusive, it’s meant for all Canadians,” she says. “And thankfully you don’t need a translator to dance and move your body.”
Herrera-Jackson says the carnival ultimately complements Toronto’s rich and multicultural fabric.
And Jason Rude, and his wife Mona, agree.
The Midtown couple has brought their two young children to experience a small slice of Caribbean flavour.
“We visited Jamaica just seven months ago, and we fell in love with the music and the Jamaican love for life,” says Jason.
“And who doesn’t love jerk chicken?” adds his wife laughing.
PHOTO: COLIN MCCONNELL / TORONTO STAR
Mayor Rob Ford dances with some of the parade revellers at the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Saturday.
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*See also iNews Cayman story today: “Toronto man killed in Carnival float accident identified”
