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A Brief Toronto Caribbean Carnival 2018 Recap

August 7, 2018

So I may have lied to you. Remember when I did a post about my favourite costumes for Caribana this year? In that post I mentioned I would not be playing this year. But guess what….I ended up in a costume on parade day!

A bunch of my friends including Karlyn Percil were playing for the first time and as a “veteran,” I couldn’t let them go it alone. I played mas once again with Saldenah. They took band of the year for the 19th time!! Our section was “Rebelle.” As always I felt empowered and super confident once I put on my costume on Saturday. Carnival has a magical way of doing that. However I must say I didn’t entirely have a good time, and judging from the comments I received on Instagram it seemed many felt the same way. I guess I yearn for the Caribana experience of my youth and unfortunately it will never be the same. It also all depends on your perspective and what aspects of the parade are important to you.

The route seems to change every year and as a result mas bands never have an opportunity to truly perfect the route. Does any one know what level of consultation happens before these changes are made? I feel like there is also some confusion around what portion of the parade most masqueraders relish. It would appear that the Lakeshore portion is treated as a “warm up’ when in actuality most see it as their favourite part! Anyway I have many thoughts on the issues. I also realize that organizing this parade is a herculean effort. One of these days I’ll do a longer post on my full thoughts. Here are some pics of my favourite moments from this year’s festival!