Thou­sands of mas­quer­aders and rev­ellers are ex­pect­ed to de­scend on New York’s Brook­lyn’s East­ern Park­way on Mon­day for the 58th An­nu­al New York Caribbean Car­ni­val Pa­rade.

Brook­lyn-based West In­di­an Amer­i­can Day Car­ni­val As­so­ci­a­tion (WIAD­CA), the or­gan­is­er of the an­nu­al spec­ta­cle, said Mon­day’s mas­sive pa­rade is the cul­mi­na­tion of the Caribbean Car­ni­val Week that kicked off last Thurs­day, Au­gust 28, at the Brook­lyn Mu­se­um.

WIAD­CA said it is cel­e­brat­ing “58 years of Caribbean cul­ture, cui­sine, pro­grammes, con­tri­bu­tion, mas, steel band and more,” un­der the theme, “Vive Le Car­ni­vale!”

Ex­cept for Mon­day’s pa­rade, all fes­tiv­i­ties took place at the Brook­lyn Mu­se­um Grounds with

WIAD­CA say­ing Caribbean mu­sic fea­tur­ing sev­er­al Caribbean based mu­si­cians, in­clud­ing Kes the Band, Bun­ji Gar­lin, Fay-Ann Lyons, Mi­cal Te­ja and Ray­mond tak­ing part in the event.

The Youth Fest and Ju­nior Car­ni­val Pa­rade took place on Sat­ur­day and WIAD­CA said it cel­e­brat­ed “Caribbean her­itage through their car­ni­val re­galia de­pict­ing many char­ac­ters and themes.”

Sat­ur­day al­so show­cased the Panora­ma com­pe­ti­tion, fea­tur­ing “the sweet sounds of steel,” WIAD­CA said nam­ing New York Panora­ma 2024 Champs, Pan Evo­lu­tion Steel Or­ches­tra, Des­pers USA, Metro Steel Or­ches­tra, Steel Sen­sa­tion, Pan in Mo­tion, D’Ra­does, Pan Al­ley and Philadel­phia Pan Stars among those in­volved.

The Grand Pa­rade on Mon­day, a pub­lic hol­i­day here, show­cas­es “an ar­ray of cos­tumed mas­ter­pieces, cel­e­brat­ing all Caribbean cul­tures, mu­sic, de­li­cious food and more led by our es­teemed elect­ed of­fi­cials, cul­tur­al part­ners, spon­sors, and our beau­ti­ful Caribbean com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers,” WIAD­CA said.

The pa­rade is pre­ced­ed by the An­nu­al Caribbean J’ou­vert, or­gan­ised by the Brook­lyn-based J’ou­vert City In­ter­na­tion­al, which takes place on the streets of Flat­bush and East Flat­bush in Brook­lyn. —NEW YORK (CMC)

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Sto­ry by Nel­son A. King | Caribbean Me­dia Cor­po­ra­tion