Celebrating its 55th anniversary, the Caribbean Carnival Grande Parade’s return to Toronto on Saturday morning brought sights, sounds, and color to Lake Shore Avenue and Exhibition Place.
Dating back to the late 18th century in Trinidad and Tobago, The Caribbean Carnival is a celebration that marked the end of slavery and freedom for African-descended plantation workers.
Founded in celebration of freedom and emancipation from slavery, the Caribbean Carnival parade marks the Caribbean tradition of parading through the street mimicking what they saw in pre-Lenten masquerade balls and parties thrown by their former masters.
Toronto hosted its first grand parade in1967 and has now become one of North America’s largest outdoor festivals.
Held annually during the August long weekend, which is also recognized as Canada’s Emancipation Day weekend, the Parade was gifted to Canada by the Caribbean community during the country’s centennial celebrations
Scheduled to continue until 8 p.m. the parade extending along Lake Shore Boulevard West is expected to draw large crowds
The parade revelers are required to join a participating masquerade “mas” band, with bands typically start preparing for carnival a year in advance.
Every band has a number of sections, and each section has its own theme that ties in with the band’s overall theme.
Band members represent their theme through their costumes and floats.
When it comes time to participate in the parade, it’s also known as “playing mas.”
Many spectators go to the parade to see the beautiful array of costumes and floats.
Earlier Saturday Toronto Mayor John Tory was at Toronto Police Service’s annual Caribbean Carnival Toronto Kick-Off Celebrations. This event with the Police Service taking place since 1991 demonstrates the strong partnership and relationship between Toronto Police and Caribbean Carnival.
When the parade first began in Trinidad and Tobago, masqueraders wore costumes that represented a political statement.
Each band puts hours of work into designing and making costumes for the grand parade.
Tribal Carnival is the third biggest band in Toronto and has over 100 masqueraders.
The band’s theme this year is “Kingdom,” said CEO Celena Seusahai adding that all of the band’s sections will have costumes reflecting that theme.
Seusahai says the band only uses Toronto-based designers and that they start production on their costumes in May with costumes ranging in price between $350 and $1,600.
Making their way across the Exhibition Grounds, the bands with masquerades dancing to soca, dancehall, and waving flags that represent their native lands or heritage
Onlookers are also encouraged to dance and bring their own flags to the parade.
Bands will also be competing for the title of a band of the year and the winner will be able to choose when they walk across the stage at next year’s grand parade.
Opening ceremonies are set to begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Exhibition Place grounds and Hotel X, and the parade is expected to get underway at 10 a.m. and run until 6 p.m.
The parade follows a different route this year compared to previous years with two starting points with some bands walking the parade route first, while others will cross the main stage to be judged first.
Masquerades will walk along Lake Shore Boulevard West through the Exhibition Place grounds.
Attendees can either watch the parade from Lake Shore Boulevard or pay an entrance fee to the Exhibition Grounds to watch it from there.
Along the Lake Shore, many vendors would be selling food and drinks throughout the day.
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