Bring Caribfest back petition

Barrie's Caribfest was cancelled yet again just weeks before it was scheduled to happen. Please sign this petition to show your support for the festival and comment about the injustice of denying the city this cultural event. 
Bring Caribfest back!

and then there was Barrie...

Barrie's 5th Caribfest was a nice finish to our carnival season. Several bands represented, with Saldenah and Carnival Nationz masqueraders in particular who came out in good numbers to get their las lap. Most bands had very few masqueraders, not sure why (??). Fortunately, since there was no more judging & need for security, we all one, so many felt free to jump from band to band. Another BIG reason I love playing mas at Caribfest so much.

The route changed this year, we weren't parading through the side streets and then downtown, they kept us to the Lakeshore... hmmmm, familiar?!? How did you feel about that? It felt about the same distance, I don't know if that's bc at times there was no movement.

It was also better to get back to not charging admission into the park. The food & shopping vendors were out in full force again, which is fantastic, I love to see that. There were complaints last year of garbage, and I saw organizer Ricardo picking up litter in the park this year, so he really was on it!

So great meeting up with so many familiar faces!

I want to say thank you to all the readers who check out the blog, take the time to comment, and come and say hi at all the events. I've really enjoyed meeting so many of you fabulous carnival divas and divos this season!
It started to drizzle at @2, but the light rain didn't kill the vibe, in fact, because it was our last jump up, it felt like people took that as a cue to get on bad! After some jerk chicken, we took in a bit of the performance in the park. I spotted lightening at 7:00 so we made a run for it, and then the downpour came during the show, which put an end to it for us.I'm putting together a slide show of our 2011 carnival pics to display on the blog (we have soooo many more than what we've posted!) Helps to get through the dull 7 months without Caribana when we're on hiatus.

If you'd like to include your own photos, email them to me at karabana01@yahoo.ca.

Bacchanal in Barrie?

~Caribana 40th anniversary~

This was an especially fun Caribana for us as our two carnival friends joined us on the road. It's always sensational having people play mas with us for the first time... it's never their last!

It was also a memorable Caribana with the newest It band, Toronto Revellers, who I suspected would dethrone Carnival Nationz, winning large Band of the Year, leaving CN in 3rd place. Saldenah, who held the title 15 times, took second place. Errol Achue's Mas Toronto placed 4th, and Marlon Singh's Callaloo placed 5th.
Newcomer Dexter Seusahai's Tribal Knights, the band I said to watch, did in fact take the small Band of the Year.

The usual complaint from some of the 1.5 million spectators was that there was a long wait between the bands. With 25,000 masqueraders and 3 bands not making it to the parade route, it's no surprise. This appears to be an issue every year, something hopefully that will be improved upon.

If you can't get enough carnival, up next is Caribfest, Barrie's first Caribbean styled Carnival this Saturday, September 1. This all day carnival will be held at the Barrie Event Centre starting at 10 a.m. It will feature Caribana costumes, a parade and a dance on the grounds of the Event Center. Reggae, soca, steel pan, chutney and tassa bands will be performing.

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I want to thank all my Caribana friends and bloggers who gave this blog over 3000 hits! This blog will be on hiatus until Caribana 2008, so until then, it's back to MocaGyrl.