Caribana festival
 |
|
| Abbreviation | TCC |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1967 |
| Type | Cultural festival |
| Legal status | Active, non-profit |
| Purpose | Celebration of Caribbean heritage |
| Headquarters | Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Location |
|
|
Official language
|
English, French |
|
CEO
|
Denise Herrera-Jackson |
|
Parent organization
|
Festival Management Committee |
| Affiliations | City of Toronto, Toronto Mas Bands Association [1], Ontario Steelpan Association |
|
Budget
|
CA$1.2 million |
|
Staff
|
12 |
|
Volunteers
|
1,000+ |
| Website | |
The Peeks Toronto Caribbean Carnival, formerly and still commonly called Caribana, is a festival of Caribbean culture and traditions held each summer in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is a Caribbean Carnival event, that has been billed as North America's largest street festival, frequented by over 1.3 million visitors each year for the festival's final parade and an overall attendance of 2 million. The entire event, which is one of the first Caribbean Carnivals along with those in New York City, Notting Hill and Boston to be held outside of the Caribbean region, brings in over one million people to Toronto and over $400 million into Ontario's economy, annually.
The festival was introduced to Canada by immigrants from Caribbean Islands. It follows a Carnival format, particularly following the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, but also influenced by the street dancing and masquerading in costume found on every Caribbean island such as John Canoe in Jamaica, Crop Over in Barbados, and other similar festivals in Cuba, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.
A commonality between these cultural events is a cultural legacy that is born out of slavery. Caribana also taps into the legacy of the Canadian Negro Women's Organization's pre-Lenten Calypso Carnival celebrations and the centuries-long Black Canadian tradition of Emancipation Day parades.
Beginning in July, the multi-week festivities lead up to the parade which occurs over the long weekend in August which is also known as Emancipation Day, August 1, 1834, in Toronto and Simcoe Day in Ontario, in honour of John Graves Simcoe, the first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada who is credited with signing “An Act to Prevent the Further Introduction of Slaves, and to Limit the Terms of Contracts for Servitude Within This Province” (1793).
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