RHYTHM OF THE CITY
‘This is great!’ Annual Caribbean Carnival celebration steams up the lakeshore beneath perfect summer skies
There was no judgment.
Struggling to get a handle on the pulsating rhythms of soca? Not a problem. Awkward newcomer feeling your way through the staccato beats of calypso music? Come join in. That welcome vibe was in full force Saturday as Toronto kicked off another Caribbean Carnival Grande Parade (formerly Caribana), a celebration of Caribbean culture marking its 51st year.
“Oh my God, this is great!” enthused Bobby Galupe, 20, a recent high school graduate from the Toronto area and first-timer to the parade.
“I love the environment, the vibe. It makes me want to go crazy and join in (with the mas band revellers),” he added. Galupe joked that he doesn’t have a girlfriend but “might find one here today.”
Scores of men, women and children dressed head to toe in colourful mas band costumes shook their hips, stamped their feet and gyrated as they marched.
Flatbed trucks along the route were loaded with speakers blasting out the latest soca hits.
Lake Shore Blvd. west of Strachan Ave. was jammed with partygoers, who included the costumed mas revellers, fans who jumped into the action on the street and those who preferred to watch from behind fences.
The parade spilled into the Exhibition grounds.
First-timer Alex Defreitas, 43, of North York, who was shirtless and dressed like an Egyptian prince, was part of the mas band Love (Let Our Voices Erupt). He was joined by his fiancée Annissa Lall, 44, her sister Audra Paul, 47, and friend Tracy Atkins, 31, who were dressed similarly to him.
Defreitas and Lall are to marry Sept. 22.
Atkins had the group in stitches when she quipped that Defreitas’s presence at the parade was a “husband test” being conducted by Lall, who is originally from Trinidad and who was attending her fourth Caribbean Carnival in Toronto.
“I’m just trying to fit in with everyone,” said Defreitas, whose mother is Italian and father is from the Caribbean island of St. Vincent.
Defreitas explained that when his wife-to-be first broached the idea of him playing mas with her he replied “Of course, why not?”
But he says he didn’t familiarize himself ahead of time with the intricacies of “jumping up” with a mas band, opting instead to just “wing it” at the parade.
The weather meanwhile cooperated wonderfully Saturday. There was no rain, bright skies and temperatures were a balmy 27 C.
“I love the outfits and I love the colours,” said Jaron Kasiban, 19, an architecture student at Carleton University in Ottawa, who was taking some shots with his new camera.
He stared in awe as the Saldenah Carnival mas band’s Wonders of Spring drove by. It featured a large, inflated green frog that seemed to be leaping into the air.
The mas band was a huge hit with the crowd, as throngs of fans joined in around the masqueraders.
Politicians in attendance at the parade Saturday included Toronto Mayor John Tory, Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.
Walking along the parade route and taking in the sights and sounds were Kevin Beckford, 29, of New York and his buddy Darryl Auguste, 30, of Boston, both first-timers who flew in for the carnival.
Beckford, who has a Jamaican background, had that island’s flag draped around his back and another covering his head.
The friends met at and graduated from Yale, and Beckford learned through members of his family here in Toronto that this city hosts a Caribbean carnival.
“They told me I’m going to have fun, not get much sleep and to keep my energy up,” Beckford joked.
Both planned to take in the night life in Toronto including the carnival-related parties. And, of course, the food. “Right now I’m looking for some jerk pork with rice and peas,” said Beckford.
“Where can I find some roti?” Auguste asked.