Thousands flock to downtown Edmonton for colourful Caribbean-style street party
By Alicja Siekierska, Edmonton Journal
Spectators join parade participants in highlight event of 29th annual Cariwest Festival
EDMONTON – Downtown Edmonton transformed into a Caribbean street party Saturday afternoon as calypso music blared while hundreds danced and shimmied their way through the streets in extravagant costumes.
Thousands more showed up to take in the energetic Cariwest parade from the sidelines.
The parade is considered the highlight event of the 29th annual Cariwest Festival.
The lively march kicked off at noon with Candace Downer, the new Miss Cariwest 2013, leading the way in a convertible. Behind her were dozens of floats, with hundreds of participants dancing their way down 107th Street and 102nd Avenue, before eventually ending the show in Sir Winston Churchill Square.
Trinidad and Tobago was front and centre for this year’s festival. The theme for Cariwest has been dubbed D’ Bouncin’ Start, named after a popular soca song, a style of music originating in Trinidad and Tobago.
Anil Maharaj has been coming to the festival since he was young. His parents are from Trinidad and Tobago, and his aunt and uncle were part of the group responsible for launching the parade almost three decades earlier.
“It’s one of the best festivals in Edmonton,” said Maharaj, whose daughter watched in awe and women walked by in sequined bustiers and feathered hats. “The costumes, the music, it all takes you back to the Caribbean.”
For Charlene Smith, who recently moved from Toronto to Edmonton, it was the perfect way to get back in touch with her Jamaican roots, in a city foreign to her.
“It’s wonderful to see all of the different Caribbean cultures coming together in one place,” Smith said. “There’s great music, dancing, food. What more could you want?”
While the festival may not come close to the grandiosity of Toronto’s Caribana Carnival, said to be the largest street festival in North America, Edmonton’s Cariwest has been gaining ground.
What used to be a small festival, often overshadowed by the Folk Festival that runs the same weekend, has come out of its shell, with thousands more participants and more events being added to the festival lineup each year.
Brian Alleyne, who was the president of the Cariwest Festival from 1991 to 2000, said the festival will grow even more if community leagues become involved.
“The year the community leagues in Edmonton begin participating in the parade, that’s when the festival will truly take off,” Alleyne said.
Still, the crowds that came out on Saturday were nearly 10 people deep toward the end of the parade.
“It’s bigger and better than I’ve ever seen it,” said city councillor Amarjeet Sohi, who donned a feathered boa and gold spandex shorts for his walk in the parade.
But the sheer number of people who came out to the parade wasn’t the most impressive part, Sohi said.
“There is such a diversity of people enjoying the parade,” he said. “Edmontonians not only cherish and value multiculturalism, they also can come together to celebrate it.”
By the time the parade reached the square there was no distinction between the crowd on the sidewalks and the participants. People wearing jeans and T-shirts danced alongside the performers in elaborate costumes and those covered in sequins, feathers and glitter.
The Cariwest Festival continues through Sunday at Sir Winston Churchill Square.
PHOTO: Participants in the 29th annual Cariwest Festival parade take to the streets of downtown Edmonton on Saturday, Aug. 13, 2013, dressed up in an array of colourful costumes.
Photograph by: Greg Southam , Edmonton Journal
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‘I had a couple of beers’ but reaction overblown: Mayor Ford
From City News Toronto
Toronto Mayor Rob Ford said he had a couple of beers at a street festival Friday night but contended videos that have sparked a torrent of criticism are being blown out of proportion.
“I drove myself down there, I was not drinking. I went out, had a few beers and I did not drive home. My people met me after that,” Ford told his weekly radio show on NewsTalk 1010.
Three videos posted on YouTube on Friday by someone with the handle Adrain Soso, show the mayor apparently enjoying a night on the town and bantering with residents.
Many people took to Twitter in response to the video posting to criticize and ridicule the mayor, accusing him of being drunk and scolding his behaviour.
“Yet another public shame from our mayor,” one person posted on Twitter.
But Ford says he doesn’t think he did anything that would offend anyone.
“Did I have a couple beers, absolutely I had a couple beers,” Ford said.
“I had a good time, I let my hair down.”
His brother, Coun. Doug Ford, suggested on the same radio show that his brother did not have too much to drink.
“You seemed all right,” Doug Ford said.
“Rob and I are average guys, we go down to a festival, we have a couple of beers,” said Doug Ford, who added there were police officers in the area who saw them.
Mayor Ford’s behaviour has attracted international attention since news reports surfaced this year of an alleged video that appeared to show him smoking crack cocaine.
Reporters for two media outlets say they were shown the video, but it has never surfaced publicly.
Ford has denied he uses cocaine and has said he can’t comment on a video that does not exist.
There have been media reports in the past of Ford appearing intoxicated in public. In May the Toronto Star reported allegations that Ford showed up drunk at an official function. At the time Ford dismissed the report as nothing but “lies” and his brother added he’s never seen the mayor drink at any event.
In 2006, before Ford was mayor, he admitted he had too much to drink and verbally abused a couple at a Toronto Maple Leafs game after initially denying the incident.
In 2010, Ford recounted an incident from the 90′s where he was charged with driving under the influence and marijuana possession. Ford at first denied the allegations, but later admitted to both. He pleaded guilty to refusing to give a breath sample.
During his radio show, Ford also announced a special meeting on Aug. 26 about replacing deputy mayor Doug Holyday’s seat at city council. The mayor said he wants to hold a by-election as he doesn’t want the position filled by appointment.
PHOTO: Mayor Rob Ford dances with revellers at the Toronto Caribbean Carnival on Aug. 3, 2013. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Michelle Siu
For more on this story and to view the videos go to:
http://www.citynews.ca/2013/08/11/i-had-a-couple-of-beers-but-reaction-overblown-mayor-ford/
