By Neil Armstrong
 |
| Mayor John Tory and some masqueraders at the official launch of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto |
The Festival Management Committee (FMC), organizer of the
Toronto Caribbean Carnival, has officially launched the month-long celebration
at Nathan Phillips Square in the heart of the city.
The carnival is the largest cultural event in Canada and
largest outdoor festival in North America.
Chris Alexander, chief administrative officer of the FMC,
says there are some new things this year including a much longer route so
masqueraders can “do a lot of stuff” and entertainment zones.
Most of the grand parade on August 3 will happen outside of
the grounds of Exhibition Place and will go along Lake Shore Boulevard to west
of Parkside Avenue and then turn around to head to Canada Boulevard.
Alexander says 75 per cent of the route is on the street
outside Exhibition Place while the rest is on the inside – a gated area and an
area for VIPs so they can access money to operate the parade.
He says the FMC has expanded activities over the month and
there are many events happening in Malvern that are related to the junior
carnival, such as the Jr. Carnival King & Queen Showcase and Jr. Carnival
Parade & Family Day.
The organizers have made a conscious effort to hold many of
the events outside of the core of the Toronto.
“We have more bands this year, more masqueraders obviously
so we have increased guest bands. We have the competitive bands, which we have
a number of those staging in different areas; we have non-competitive bands,
which is new this year. It’s the same costumed bands but now they’re just not
competing and then we have the steel bands.”
He says it will not be a standing parade where masqueraders
are waiting to get on stage. Instead it is a movement and there are areas where
they can “stop and do a whole bunch of stuff.
On the matter of not having a title sponsor this year,
Alexander said the FMC has a three-tier model that includes sponsorship, gating
some events and government granting.
He said the impact of the carnival does a lot for the city
and its economic impact is $400million and plus.
“We’re surviving, we will need more; we always need more, we
need more sponsors, obviously, it’s something that will always do well for the
festival.”
The CAO said a big reason they need sponsors for the
festival is because the majority of the events are free such as the Junior
Carnival and other activities held throughout the city.
Alexander said 15 per cent of people who come to the major
carnival event are the ones that pay, 85 per cent of people see the carnival
for free.
“We want to continue to do that, we want to continue to give
that to Toronto to make sure that everybody understands that it is a gift to
us. It was a gift in 1967 and it’s still a gift today.”
The organizers have created a hashtag, #RespectTheParade.
Alexander explained that they want people to see the spectacle of the parade
but what many people tend to do is join in and make it a street party which it
is really not.
“We really want people to respect the parade, respect the
mas, respect the masqueraders so what we’ve done this year is a number of
things to make sure that happens.”
Instead of having one stage and one activity taking place
where everybody joins in the parade because it was the only thing happening,
this year they have created a number of diversion or entertainment zones along
the parade route.
There are five of these which will allow people to go get
food, get refreshed and get entertained while the masquerade is taking place
and they can see the mas on the street.
Joe Halstead, chair of the board of the FMC, says the
carnival is stronger today than it has ever been and they are ready to
celebrate this year. He said symbolically the festival is a celebration of freedom
and diversity and as a community it is brought to the city with love and pride.
While acknowledging funding from all levels of government,
Halstead said the City of Toronto is the strongest and most reliable supporter
of the festival.
Mayor John Tory said the City has provided a cheque for
$625, 000 to the organizers and is providing the usual city services such as
policing and work done by other departments.
“The Caribbean Carnival is a nation thing, it’s a provincial
thing but it’s really a Toronto thing. It’s ours, it was born here 52 years
ago; it’s going to live here for 1052 years from now and that’s why we’re proud
to be the biggest supporter.”
He said the festival shows off the wonderful African
Canadian Caribbean communities that the city is privileged to have.
Deputy Mayor Michael Thompson said fifty-two years ago the
carnival was a gift to Canada by the Caribbean community as part of Canada’s
centennial celebration. It attracts over two million people annually.
[This story has been published in the North American Weekly Gleaner, July 25-31, 2019.]
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