It’s that time for me again, one of my favourite pastimes…Carnival!! As summer is coming to an end so is carnival season, my last carnival stop of the year was spent in Toronto Canada at Caribana. Caribana Toronto is deemed one of the largest festivals in North America. Carnival day this year was August 3rd with my travel dates spanning from August 1-5th.
Caribana Toronto Festival is an annual Caribbean carnival event that has been taking place in Toronto, Canada for over 50 years. Also making it one of the largest festivals in North America with its consistent growth. Officially, Caribana Toronto can last up to six weeks filled with events. Events such as the junior carnival, j’ouvert, pan live, the King & Queen Show. All culminating with the carnival parade on the first Saturday of August along Lakeshore Blvd. The parade is full of music, food, masqueraders and spectators’ alike coming together to celebrate and bask in the Caribbean history and culture.
I started my Caribana Weekend with an unofficial Meet & Greet with some new Facebook group friends at Oasis Rooftop Lounge to set the mood and pregame. We kept the party going with Dr Jay at Soca & Die, which was by far my favourite fete of the weekend. The music was on point continuously, the location was great, the sun was out with popsicles to cool us down and the company was lit.
The next morning, I learned that Shea Moisture was also hosting a Pop-Up and decided it was a must to make a little time to attend. Catching the event on the last day, I walked up to a building that was brightly colored and uniquely transformed with beautiful art gracing the walls and Shea moisture products showcased all around. The pop-up, like always, included an opportunity to shop, listen to speakers, and take photos with beautiful backdrops and stylists on hand offering super cute and fast hairstyling.
After the pop-up, I met up with some friends at one of the biggest parties, DayLit. By the time I arrived at the location, it was wall to wall with the roof level filled all around. Music blasted of Hip hop and R&B with Fetty Wap making a guest appearance towards the end of the event.
After DayLit I attempted to pick up my costume from mas camp which was an epic fail. Be sure to read up on why I had no costume for the parade.
The next day was the parade. Though I intended to play Mas this year I wasn’t able to play since my band failed to distribute costumes to more than half of the band. But as a spectator who attended for a few hours, there was a vibe on the road with the other bands. From the bands, I was able to view the costumes were gorgeous and the music great. I will say, that the parade itself did have some confusion which I was informed happens every year. The route is said to change often which confuses the meetup location. Also, the roads are blocked off over a mile on almost every side of the parade.
After entering the gateway it was another hike before we saw any resemblance of organization. Also this year they were charging a fee to simply enter to watch the parade. And with all of this, stormers (crashers) were still prevalent this year as they are year after year as the festival is looked more like a start party. (It may seem simple to most but Caribana in the last few years has shifted greatly and has become greatly commercialized. Some may argue that change is good while others who have grown up on the experience of carnival have questioned how much more must they change and water down their culture to appeal to the mainstream vs the mainstream coming in and enjoying the essence of what our culture is pure?)
In place of mas and after a few hours of spectating I decided to go rooftop hopping with some new friends. We went to about four rooftops found good food, drinks, music and conversation to help ease the no mas blues. And guess what, we still had fun.
On Sunday, after sightseeing and brunch, I ended my Caribana weekend with the soca room at Sunday Blocko. Though the event was mainly Hip-hop and R&B there was a specially designated soca room at this party that was a lifesaver. The soca room made this fete better as we spent the last day wining before we had to head back to reality.
For me, Caribana seemed to be a truly interesting and very different carnival compared to others. I’m glad I attended for the experience but it may be a while before I attend Caribana again. If you’ve ever attended Caribana, how was your experience? What was your favourite fete? Did you play mas? Would you go back again? Let’s talk about it.
Let me know in the comments.
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