Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

King Costume Designer at the Ontario Science Centre to Pick Up His Award Summertime memories of the Toronto Caribbean Carnival Parade may have begun to fade, but for fans of the Caribbean Arts. one memory will never disappear.  Who can forget Heart Beat of the Thrill of Life, the incredible King Costume worn by first time designer Nicholas Guy at the August King and Queen Competition.  It was a two-sided costume that depicted the final battle of angels and demons, where good triumphs over evil.  Guy’s costume won it all that night including the coveted annual Ontario Science Centre Innovation in Mas’ Award. He won both awards on behalf of the Louis Saldenah’s Mas K Camp. On Sunday afternoon at a packed Ontario Science Centre, Nicholas Guy was honoured on stage for the construction of that breathtaking costume.  Guy spoke at length at the ceremony about the costume and the relevance of the Carnival dream! In the audience were members of the Mas K ...

WRAP UP OF CARNIVAL 2019 - GREAT FESTIVAL BUT WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PARADE ANYWAY? By Stephen Weir (for the Caribbean Camera) Three months ago, plans for the 2019 Toronto Caribbean Carnival (Caribana for all us old timers) had all the makings of a plan for a funeral parade. The festival had lost Peeks, its name-sponsor, and behind the scene sources said that the Smart Phone App had not ponied up the total monies promised for 2018 – meaning the Festival was already in the hole before the first Mas camp opened its doors. With no new major sponsors infusing big dollars into their empty piggy bank the FMC was broke. The owners of the festival were also hit by staffing issues early in 2019. The new CEO, Richard DeLima, only 6-months into the job, was dismissed even though he had been brought in to save the festival. Shortly thereafter, the number two man, Trinidad’s Gerard Weekes suddenly left the organization and the country (but he did come back to Toronto in time to be a spec...

It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This By Stephen Weir The stars glittering above were most certainly aligned.  There will never be a Caribana King and Queen Competition as good as what happened last Thursday night at Lamport Stadium. What do we mean? In point form here’s why it was an event for the carnival history books. Clear warm skies. No wind. A stadium filled to capacity with hard-core fans of the carnival arts. Drama. Pageantry. And, two big surprises at the podium. According to Weather Canada, when the gates opened at the downtown soccer stadium, it was a sunny cloudless 25 degrees Celsius. When the contest ended just before midnight it was 20 degrees Celsius – just the right temperature to cool down an estimated audience of 10,000 as they streamed out of Lamport. Most of the crowd left the open-air stadium long before the winning announcements were made. Those that did stay greeted the names of the new King and Queen with loud gasps and then applause. ...

  . But a Toronto Summer is always Hot, Hot, Hot. Jump Up. Jump Up. In the land of  snow   (feature article for WinTV's inflight magazine - Trinidad)  Playing Mas in downtown Toronto - photograph by Andrew Weir In Canada, carnival is done differently. In Trinidad, you might even call it backwards. But hey, if you can get a million people to jump up, you gotta be doing something right. At Carnival in Trinidad, everyone plays Mas in the street.  The players out-number the people watching by a long shot.  In Toronto?  There are million people cheering on the 16,000 people playing Mas along the city’s waterfront! The Scotiabank Toronto Caribbean Carnival is getting ready to hit the streets of Toronto, this August 4th.  This is the 45 th year for the festival formally known as Caribana, and not only is going to be bigger, it is going to be better. The Toronto festival runs for three weeks and attracts over a million people ...