Sometimes, you need an outsider to remind you what you have

Hi Folks,


We take Caribana for granted. We get all wrapped up in politics, funding, which band is the best, who have the biggest feathers and most expensive costume. We fight among ourselves and complain about mas not being what it was back in the day, and not being what it's supposed to be now.

We focus on everything that went wrong and fell short.

I have this auditor buddy of mine, he is from Chicago but his job takes him all over North America. He basically spends more than half of his time living out of a suitcase. He is in his mid twenties, he’s not West Indian and him and 3 college buddies (who had never been to Toronto) decided to come for Caribana.

I asked him to throw together a paragraph outlining his experience of the festival as a first timer. I expected them to talk about what parties they went to, maybe mention the food they tried and some comments on the parade.... probably complaining about the barricades (I couldn’t convince them to play mas)

What I got was raw emotion. It reminded me why I love our festival and city. It’s only from the outside looking in, that you can get this kind of perspective.

There are lots of North American Carnivals, and we have been to a few of them, but they don’t have what we have here. We need to cherish, protect and nurture this thing.... it's special.

This is what he wrote:

Below is a quick paragraph about my friend’s first experience in Toronto and Caribana,


“'Best time of my life': probably the most concise way to describe Caribana 2011, without fully diving into the rich detail it deserves. I've never seen so many happy people in one place, it felt like one big family. The weekend was an epic sensory-overload. The experience is also utterly exhausting: I've never danced so much and slept so little in my life. Do not come to Caribana expecting to sit back, relax and enjoy the beautiful Toronto summer sun. It is an experience you have to create and participate in to gain full benefit from. Caribana is, after all, about people coming together to celebrate culture and party,


An experience as great as Caribana could not be possible in any other North American city than Toronto. No other place has the perfect balance of diversity, openness, acceptance, self-identity, and sheer size needed to pull off such an incredible large-scale cultural celebration. Since its genesis in the late 60s, Caribana has evolved from a small re-creation of Trinidad's Carnival into an epic landmark festival celebrating the music, art, culture, costumes, dance and food from the Caribbean and beyond. Caribana is, after all, about people coming together to celebrate culture, party and have fun.”

What do you think?

Trini-in-Toronto