Caribana All About “Letting Yourself Go”
Posted July 21, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Believe it or not, Caribana has been lighting up Toronto’s lakeshore since the late 1960s, and organizers want to make this year’s 40th anniversary an event to remember.
“Caribana is about simply letting yourself go, having some fun, relaxing, and enjoying the costumes, the pageantry, the mas,” explained Joe Halstead, the CEO for Caribana. “Play mas as we say back home, and it’s so, so important to have people just relax and let themselves go, and it’s all in good fun. So I encourage (people) to participate.”
This year the event has been extended to six weeks with exhibits, parties and activities leading up to and following the big parade on Saturday August 4. Among the major festivities, the Junior Carnival on Saturday July 21.
“Of course we have traditional events – the grand parade, the King and Queen contest, and of course the Calypso Monarch, those are the staples, and they remain,” Halstead noted. “What we’re doing for the 40th anniversary is to expand the range of program activities so that we give a better cross-section of Caribbean culture.”
One example is the COLOURblind! International art exhibit, which runs from July 24 to August 6 at the Distillery District. It features more than 60 original paintings and sculptures by Caribbean artists.
“It is going to be quite wonderful, and if you are into art and even if you are not, just come and look at the creativity of Caribbean art. It’s wonderful,” he said.
Halstead says all of Caribbean culture is on display at the annual event, from music and dancing to history and food.
“It’s food, it’s poetry, dance, it’s theatre. It’s the full gamut, and so we think that if you enjoy one aspect, you should do the other,” he said. “If you come to the various events, there will be a nice variety of Caribbean food and various spices.”
