The West Indian American Day Parade, with its intricate and colorful masquerade costumes, vibrant soca music, and vendors selling a tantalizing array of Caribbean dishes, attracts nearly two million participants every Labor Day. The carnival celebration that transforms Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway into a little slice of the Caribbean is in its 57th year. But what goes into putting on this elaborate parade and all the cultural festivities surrounding it?
Participants in “A Stakeholder’s Tour” got a behind-the-scenes look at the different elements and people that make carnival special, from J’ouvert and mas (masquerade) costumes to steel bands. “It’s gatherings like these that keep our culture alive, and this we must instill in the next generation,” said Rondy McIntosh, Consul General of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to the United States, speaking to the event’s cultural and community significance.
The five-hour tour was organized by Hazra Ali, Mayor Eric Adams’ Caribbean advisory board member and this year’s West Indian Day parade Grand Marshal. The tour, conducted in partnership with the NYPD (Patrol Borough Brooklyn South), was also meant to facilitate an improved relationship between the carnival community and the police. Historically, Ali said the relationship between the NYPD and panyards was largely negative, which was exacerbated by neighbors unfamiliar with steel bands calling police on them with noise complaints as they practiced. However, by working with community stakeholders in the carnival space, the NYPD can be an ally to the community.
Ali gave this example: if there’s a noise complaint at 11 pm, the police could explain, “We’re letting them go until 12 am since the Panorama competition is tomorrow,” that cultural understanding is key in keeping carnival practices thriving in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.
The first stop on the tour was 2J & Friends, home of a J’ouvert band. In this case, it was a literal home, nestled on a residential street where one would have no idea what a creative display of costumes awaited in the backyard. J’ouvert, which means daybreak in French Creole, is a celebration that happens in the early morning hours of carnival day, typically starting between 2 am and 4 am (in NYC it starts at 6 am). During J’ouvert, revelers usually wear clothes they don’t mind ruining, as getting splattered with paint, powder, and oil as they wine and jump up behind steel bands and music trucks are all part of the fun.
However, 2J & Friends creator Kendell Julien planned to give J’ouvert participants a different experience with “fancy J’ouvert” this year. He sees it as a way to “include modern styles into an old-time practice” now that nicer materials and fabrics are accessible to us which weren’t available to our ancestors.
The theme of his J’ouvert costumes centers around a traditional Tobago wedding, with each costume telling part of the story. There’s the great house girl, represented with a pot and spoon to signify her role, and a gift bearer carrying a basket with two pillows. Bridesmaids appear in vibrant pink and white, as well as orange and green floor-length dresses. In a humorous nod to calypso legend Sparrow’s song “Obeah Wedding,” there’s also a “Melda” costume in red and black, complete with an obeah(spell-casting) bag. And, no Tobago wedding would be complete without the village maccos—those ever-watchful neighbors who can’t resist commenting on everything.
Julien’s wedding theme honors J’ouvert’s roots as a form of resistance, where formerly enslaved Africans fought for their right to celebrate freedom, “our J’ouvert is fancier than the J’ouvert of yesteryear, but we still know the struggle. We know the story, so we maintain the story because we are a people of struggle, a people of resistance.” He ended on an upbeat note, saying for J’ouvert, “We’re gonna have the modern part, the old-time part, and we will just have the sweetest wedding ever.”
A mix of old and new was also the theme at Sesame Flyers mas camp, the second tour stop. NYC’s first Caribbean carnival celebrations in the 1920s were held in Harlem, so Sesame Flyers’ theme for this year is Carnival Renaissance in honor of that era’s Harlem Renaissance. There are three costume sections: Renaissance in silver representing the past; divine in pink representing the present and AI costumes in blue representing the future, there’s also a timeless section called the Sesame San Juan Sailors. The traditional sailor costume was introduced in the 1880s after American, British, and French navy ships came to Trinidad and Tobago.
Sesame Flyers has won the title of Large Band of the Year 13 times, but there’s more to the organization than pretty mas costumes. With a motto of “Love A Kid Today and Everyday,” it provides youth development programs and supports cultural events year-round. Hercules Reid, the citywide youth coordinator for the mayor’s office who has fond memories of attending the parade as a kid, spoke to the significance of Sesame Flyers’ work with the community’s youth and keeping carnival traditions alive, “We all have such an important role when it comes to how we continue this tradition, this culture.” He continued, “I want to say a shout out to Sesame Flyers and the great work that they do with our young people because it is about how we raise them in our communities to know our history, our stories, listen to our music and [eat] our food.”
Speaking of which, Caribbean culture can’t be enjoyed by sight alone, so attendees had their taste buds delighted with doubles and aloo pies, which are popular Trinidadian street foods. They were then serenaded by Eddie Charles, lead singer of the hit Trinidadian band Traffik, before heading off to the third stop of the tour: Steel Sensation pan yard.
The steelpan players (also known as pannists) filled the air of P.S. 66’s schoolyard with the sounds of Farmer Nappy’s popular 2024 soca hit “How Ah Living.” Steelpan has the distinction of being the only new instrument created in the 20th century and the national instrument of Trinidad and Tobago. It’s also enjoying a special moment since August 11th marked the second year of its United Nations designation as World Steelpan Day. Reggie Archibald, the president of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA), which oversees much of the West Indian Day Parade’s festivities, said, “Without pan, there would be no carnival, pan and carnival go hand in hand.”
Reflecting its international reach, musicians from across the Caribbean region participated in NYC’s Panorama competition, where several steel bands competed for the title of best band and a $20,000 prize. Acknowledging the extensive practice and hard work that goes into preparing for the event, Archibald announced that all steel bands would be paid for their participation, and there would be significant prize money for the bands that placed second and third as well.
Marc Brooks, captain of Steel Sensation, expressed gratitude for the gesture. “Even if a band doesn’t quite make it within the top three, receiving something for their time, energy, and efforts goes a long way,” he said.
The next stop on the tour supported the theme of youth as “culture keepers of tomorrow.” Metro Steel Orchestra, winnersof last year’s Panorama competition, has many child pannists in its band. Ali said, “They are now taking it on into the future when we are not here; so it’s important that we recognize them doing it, and we teach it to them, and we celebrate them as they do it.”
There was much to celebrate as the young steelpan players put on an incredible show performing the song “Happy Place”by soca artist Lyrikal.
Urged on by their passionate drill master, Jamal Bennette (serving as a conductor for the band), who told them, “Anyone who performs before us should cry, and anyone who performs after us should be afraid,” the kids jumped up and poured their heart and soul into their instruments. They were rehearsing for the youth pan fest competition and Bennette, a Trinidadian who was in town for a few short days, marveled at how the steelpan from “a little tiny country” was inspiring people worldwide. It made his job getting the players ready for competition easy. “I have a lot of enthusiastic kids,” he said.
The enthusiasm was contagious as participants on the tour marveled at the performance. “To see the young people do it, it’s like, wow, it’s mind-blowing…the sound is electrifying to me,” said Deborah Ferdinand. Others offered words of encouragement to the children to keep going. “We’re proud to see you embrace the culture,” said Andrew Maloney, board chairman of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA).
By the tour’s end at D’Radoes panyard, attendees only had time to take a little wine and a drink at the bar because it was well past 11 pm when the tour was scheduled to end. From the looks of the panyard, the rehearsal turned party was just getting started, and the four-time winners of Panorama and their supporters were enjoying the vibes.
Ali plans to continue doing these free stakeholder tours, and now that other Caribbean entrepreneurs are starting paid tours of their own, she supports that as well, saying, “I think it’s the beginning of what I’m calling Caribbean tourism.” In the future, she sees carnival traditions like steel bands being a draw for NYC tourists to enjoy year round, “I love New York is our brand, and it should be something that we as a city should invest in and create as a place where tourists could come and experience that. And it shouldn’t just be popping up, like three months before Labor Day,” Ali said.
