Labor Day Carnival

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A parade-goer waves a Bajan flag
A parade-goer waves a Bajan flag

The Labor Day Carnival, or West Indian Carnival, is an annual celebration held in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Its main event is the West Indian-American Day Parade, which attracts up to four million spectators who watch the parade on its route along Eastern Parkway. The large parade is held on the first Monday in the month of September.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Start in Harlem

Woman in full costume
Woman in full costume

Ms. Jessie Waddle and some of her West Indian friends started the Carnival in Harlem in the 1920s by staging costume parties in large enclosed places - like the Savoy, Renaissance and Audubon Ballrooms due to the cold wintry weather of February. This is the usual time for the pre-Lenten celebrations held in most countries around the world. However, because of the very nature of Carnival and the need to parade in costume to music - indoor confinement did not work.<script.> #@

The earliest known Carnival street parade was held on September 1, 1947. The Trinidad Carnival Pageant Committee was the founding force behind the parade, which was held in Harlem. The parade route was along Seventh Avenue, starting at 110th St.

The first Carnival Queen was Miss Dorothy Godfrey. The Committee raised money to finance the parade. They sold advertisement space and boosters, that were printed in a Souvenir Journal for West Indies Day, a booklet which is a memento of that first parade. Mrs. Jessie Waddell Compton is presented in the journal as the person "whose inspiration and enterprise" was owed to the formation of this committee. The committee consisted of Mrs. Waddell Compton-Chairman; Ivan H. Daniel-Vice Chairman; Conrad Matthews-Treasurer; Roy Huggins-Secretary; and Robert J. Welsh-Assistant Secretary. Each member of the committee contributed in helping to organize the parade. The after-parade party, which the Trinidad Carnival Pageant Committee held at the Golden Gate Ballroom (located at 142nd St. and Lenox Ave), was arrainged by James M. Green, another figure who helped make the first Carnival Parade in Harlem a true success.

[edit] The move to Brooklyn

During the 1960s, another Trinidadian, Rufus Goring, brought Carnival to Brooklyn. In 1967, Goring passed the reins over to Carlos Lezama, who later became president of WIADCA and who nurtured the organization and carnival celebrations until 2001. Mr. Lezama's daughter, Yolanda Lezama-Clark was subsequently elected President of the organization. as of 2007. The Labor Day Carnival Held in Crown Heights, New York, by overall attendance in is largest street fair in the world (over 4.0 Million)out numbering the carnival parades across seas, Trinidad, Brazil, London.

[edit] Violence

In 2003, a man was fatally shot and another was stabbed in the neck.[1][2] In 2005, one man was shot and killed along the parade route. In 2006, one man was shot and another was stabbed. However by the 2007 parade the newspapers reported that there was only one report of violence, and that occurred when a man was shot in the leg.[3][4]

[edit] See also

[edit] Further reading

  • Manuel, Peter (1995). Caribbean Currents: Caribbean Music from Rumba to Reggae. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. ISBN 1-56639-338-8. 

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Brooklyn Man Held In Killing at Parade" The New York Times October 4, 2003
  2. ^ McClam, Erin "Violence mars Caribbean parade honoring slain councilman" Associated Press 2003
  3. ^ "Man Shot Twice At West Indian Day Parade" The New York Sun September 4, 2007
  4. ^ "West Indian Day Parade Dazzles Again" Gothamist LLC. September 4, 2007

[edit] External links