Boston gears up for Caribbean Carnival
Parades and competitions this week
This Saturday, Grove Hall will be blanketed with thousands of spectators as a parade of Carnival mas bands make their way to a judging stand at Franklin Park.
For more than 40 years, members of Boston West Indian community have celebrated Trinidadian-style carnival in August. Contestants organize mas bands (short for masquerade bands) and compete against each other before a panel of judges who are flown in from Trinidad.
The parade, which regularly draws tens of thousands of participants and spectators, is the largest cultural event in Boston’s black community and one of the largest in the city.
This year’s contest will be marked by the debut of new bands as well as the notable absence of two longstanding ones.
Jamaica Plain-based TnT Social Club, which has dominated the carnival with award-winning, colorful multi-section presentations, will be sitting out the parade this year. Come Cross Productions, another large mas band, also will abstain. D’Horizon, another large band, will not play mas in costumes, but will have a T-shirt contingent.
“It seems as though they want to take a rest this year,” said Michael Smith, whose website, Boston Carnival Village, serves as an unofficial bulletin board for the city’s carnival committee.
“This will give some of the younger bands a shot,” said Mary-Dith Tuitt, a member of the Carnival Committee. “A lot of times, the smaller bands see TnT and D’Horizon dominating. This year the three big costume bands will be Socaholics, Soca and Associates and D’Midas International of Boston. They have the opportunity to shine this year. This is kind of a re-fresh year.”
Before Saturday afternoon’s Carnival parade, several pre-carnival events are scheduled. Last Sunday was the annual Kiddie Carnival, an event where the youngest members of mas bands compete for best costume.
2015 Kiddie Carnival
Thursday at the Reggie Lewis Center at 6 p.m. is the annual King and Queen competition. Each mas band reserves its largest, most elaborate costumes for their respective kings and queens. Those presentations are judged separately from the bands, which will compete in Saturday’s parade.
Fridayevening Boston Carnival Village will host its 5th annual J’Ouvert Boat Cruise, setting sail from Rowes Wharf at 9 p.m.
The traditional J’Ouvert parade, an early morning carnival celebration, kicks off at 5:30 a.m. at the corner of Talbot and Blue Hill avenues. Participants in this event do not wear the elaborate, sequined and feathered costumes featured in the parade, but often are covered in body paints.
The carnival parade begins at 1 p.m. (though rarely on time) with a contingent of elected officials and, typically, political candidates. The mas bands assemble at the parade staging area along Martin Luther King Boulevard before proceeding up Warren Street to Franklin Park, where they pass in front of a judging stand. At the main entrance to Franklin Park, at Columbia Road, vendors sell food, arts and crafts and souvenirs.
The event ends at 6 p.m.
The following day, Sunday, Aug. 30, the Worcester Caribbean Carnival day will begin at noon at Institute Park, drawing many of the same mas bands from Boston. On Saturday, Sept. 13, the Cambridge Carnival will begin its parade at 12:30 at River and Blackstone streets, proceeding along Massachusetts Avenue to Main Street.
