So let me get right to it, my thoughts on Toronto Carnival 2017!
What worked:
- I enjoyed how the new route flowed, and for the most part, it felt like a parade! We had about 5 hours of parading around, with virtually no stormers. That's a back in the day feeling right there! I took pictures at 2:00 of the practically empty Lakeshore, showing how spectators were on the other side of the fences.
- Fever Mas was lit again. Our section had many variations of Spice Mas as well as Jab Jab and surprise lady jab jabs.
The vibes, as usual, cyah done, and many masqueraders from other sections jammed with us.
- I simply adored the fine detail on my costume. The beautiful jewellery that were the leg pieces, waistband and the necklace were a joy to wear. My Micels tights and fishnets that were perfectly colour matched held up, no snags, yay!
My Ardene wedges ($10, thank you very much 🙇♀️) were super cute and comfy, so I'd wear that type again.
- Loved seeing the costumes come to life! There's nothing like the sunshine, or in our case, overcast skies (which works better in photos), to bring out the beauty of mas. I know it's still BBF we've got here in The Six, but for what designers give us, it's pretty, and I like seeing how some changed things up a bit, like in Fashion on Queen and Born to be Wild.
- It was the earliest we've ever been to TO Carnival: left home at 8:30 (I know, I know!!! 😲), arrived at 9, due to no traffic, which was real nice 👍, then reached our band at about 9:45. We had the chance to see just some of Carnival Nationz, Toronto Revellers and Tribal Carnival and quickly had to try & take what shots we could.
What still needs work:
- At the second judging, the storming situation was starting to become a problem. People who figured they weren't supposed to be there needed to get past us, and they could only do so by squeezing past us along the fencing. It would make sense in this case to have volunteers/security/this promised extraction team to open the fence and let them out. By the third judging, there were more stormers who got in somehow, and they were aggressively pushing past us, ruffling feathers, snagging tights and being generally obnoxious. Djs did tell non masqueraders they should not be in the band, but again, the extraction team (if it existed??) should have taken care of that. I was close to a masquerader in our section advising a few stormers they can't go past, as we were about to be judged, I guess he figured he looked like an authority with his horns, but they didn't like what he was saying, and argued with him. I appreciated what he was doing, because lord knows, they needed to be stopped, but this shouldn't be a masquerder's job.
- Djs needed to advise masqueraders there were 3 judging points. Ours did tell us several times the order of sections, which was helpful, so I know that they could have also advised us of what's coming up, and where we are headed along the route. It felt like the route was longer, probably since we were moving a lot, and those 3 judging stations. What was up with that anyway?
- More portapotties and easy access to them. While lined up waiting for (first) judging, I saw that masqueraders needed to walk quite a bit all the way around the trucks for an opening in the fencing, and then stand in a line 30 people deep. That's just ridiculous. They need to be on our side, and many more of them at several points along the route.
- I would have liked to see the bands intermixed: small, big, small, big... It's only fair. That would give the small bands a chance to have a parade too, and it allows the opportunity for everyone to see them. We unfortunately didn't get to see bands past 4, because by the time we left Saldenah and tried to go back, it was overrun with stormers.
At this point, 5:00, we had enough, couldn't make sense of this chaos anyway, so we left.
Dramatic? 😉
Tereka killin it!!
Cute earpieces!
How was your road experience with the changes this year? Comment here, and also have you say on the Save Toronto Carnival page. All comments will be given to the organizers / planners at the Peeks Toronto Caribbean Carnival debriefing meeting to be held in September.