Brooklyn West Indian Day Parade, Caribbean carnival

Brooklyn West Indian Day Carnival Parades

The West Indian Day Parade is a celebration of Labor Day The masqueraders dressed in their floridly decorative costumes. Once the revelers appetites are wetted with the sweet Calypso Rhythms, the glory of the islands are recaptured and there's no stopping the fete.

When speaking of Caribbean celebrations here in the States or abroad "West Indian Day Parade" in Brooklyn comes out at the top of the list. Surely Toronto's Caribana is the grandest of them all. But the West Indian day parade, popularity enhanced by popular Calypso songs like Lord Kitchener's "Brooklyn Woman" and the Mighty Sparrow's "Labor Day in Brooklyn," serves to enhance Brooklyn's place in the Yearly celebrations.

Grand Army Plaza: An interesting foot note to this parade route is the Grand Army traffic circle. Whose name sake the Grand Army of the Republic Monument, a tribute to the American civil war union forces.
I find a bit of celebration in this 80 wide by 80 feet high monument sitting in the middle of this circle.

It is dedicated to men and women of all races and creed who took up arms against their southern brothers.
They died for the ideal of a perfect union. A fitting end to a parade of pride by a people of African heritage, from a different shore.

West Indian Day Parade: It's Labor Day in Brooklyn, time again for New Yorkers and folks who come
from all points: England, Canada and across America. Converging on Brooklyn, New York for this grass-
root of Caribbean parades.

Links to Brooklyn West Indian Annual Carnival Events

The Thirty-Ninth Annual West Indian Day parade
Brooklyn West Indian Parade '04
Brooklyn West Indian Parade faces '04
West Indian Parade, 2005
West Indian parade Faces, 2005

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