Music, dance and costumes take centre stage today at Caribbean Carnival Grand Parade
CBC
Lakeshore Boulevard will be filled with colourful, sparkling and feathered characters and the sounds of steel pan Saturday for the Toronto Caribbean Carnival's Grand Parade.
The event, a celebration of emancipation, is expected to draw thousands of participants and huge crowds of spectators.
Masahda Lochan-Aristide could not be more excited to be walking the parade with her family for the first time.
She says the event is so much more than a party.
"It's a celebration of freedom ... of emancipation ... rooted in the freedom of slaves who were brought over to Trinidad," she said.
She says the event is wonderful for everyone regardless of cultural background, to learn about each other and take in the fun.
Lochan-Aristide, of Trinidadian descent, and her sisters will be wearing turquoise Princess Jasmine inspired outfits filled with diamonds and sparkles.
Each outfit takes hours to make.
"Each jewel on each costume is placed by the hands of the people who are making it. Everything is hand decorated ... it takes hours and hours," said Lochan-Aristide.
Once upon a time is one of the parade themes, so onlookers can expect to take in many different stories, she says.
Stacy Rodriguez is a longtime veteran of Carnival.
"I would say since birth," she told CBC Toronto. "Mas, pan and calypso are what I equate to the oxygen, blood and soul of the human body."
Now the event manager for the Ontario Steelpan Association, Rodriquez says she's honoured to pass on the traditions to the next generation.
"Our youngest, steelpanners are five years old, our oldest steelpanner is well into their centennial," she said.