La Fête Carnival! turns Crown Heights into Caribbean wonderland

August 29, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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CROWN HEIGHTS — THE ANNUAL WEST INDIAN DAY PARADE, filled with colorful costumes and calypso along Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn each Labor Day, takes place with celebrations starting in the pre-dawn hours of Monday, Sept. 2. A beloved local tradition that has garnered more than 60 corporate, government and philanthropy sponsors, the West Indian Day Parade winds around Crown Heights, starting at the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue, and proceeding up to the Grand Army Plaza bandstand. Rooted in both African and European traditions, Carnival typically includes calypso, soca and steelpan music. For the Caribbean diaspora, Carnival represents a powerful expression of cultural identity and heritage. Preceding the main event is J’Ouvert, starting at 6 a.m., an early morning celebration involving paint and mud. The word J’ouvert is a contraction of jour ouvert, meaning opening of the day. The parade runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The parade, which originated on a smaller scale in Harlem in the 1940s and was brought to Brooklyn in the 1960s, is the culmination of a weeklong set Carnival celebrations, which include SOCAFEST on Aug. 30, a vibrant live-music celebration of the Caribbean diaspora, the Youth Fest/Junior Carnival Parade and the Brooklyn Panorama competition, one of the largest steelpan drum competitions in the world.

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