Stephen Weir articles, editorials and popular social media weir postings

  BY STEPHEN WEIR The Toronto Caribbean Carnival Launch: A New Era, a New Home, a New Auidence photo by Gilbert Medina The ribbon has been cut, the songs have been sung, and the costumes have been strutted. Make no mistake, as of 2 p.m. last Saturday, the 2024 Toronto Caribbean Carnival is officially underway! For the first time this century, the launch was not held at Nathan Phillips Square, and it wasn’t free. Patrice Roberts sings at opening at right - G. Medina Still, this change didn’t stop an estimated crowd of 2,000 from traveling out to the Scarborough Town Centre to take in the vibrant costumes, listen to live music, and indulge in Caribbean food. Speaking outdoors on a temporary parking lot stage, Jennifer Hirlehey, the executive director of the Festival Management Committee (FMC) and the festival, stated, “The FMC has made significant improvements over the last year.” In previous years, when the festival launched at City Hall, many important speakers would appear at Nathan

The Grand Old Grande Parade.  Best hang on to your feathers. Sure the parade is in its 52nd year and it is very much the same old same old. However, there are additions and changes to the grand old Grand Parade that spectators should be aware of to get the most out of the August 3rd  world famous road march. First of all the parade is bigger, noisier and longer than last year – the route is 8km in length almost twice the distance in2018.  The parade is larger and will take much longer to play out along Lakeshore Blvd and in the Exhibition Place grounds. Third, the pan orchestras are back in the parade and will certainly make themselves heard above the roar of the crowd. Chris Alexander the head honcho at the carnival office spoke to the Caribbean Camera about the changes and upgrades to the Saturday parade. The bands, beginning at 9.30 am will present themselves in this order: guest bands, competitive bands and then non-competitive bands. Steel bands will round ou

Many have themes and some plan to travel Tribal 2018 Costume Launch Caribbean Camera By Stephen Weir: Used to be that when carnival ends in Toronto and the wrap-up band parties have been laid to rest, people move on to think about Parangs, Christmas and Hockey. Not so this year! Even though the 2019 parade is still nine months away, many of the Mas bands in the city have already announced their themes for next year’s parade and are holding events to showcase what’s in store for revelers! Judging by social media postings and one-on-one interviews, the first two bands to announce their themes for 2019 appear to have been Epic Carnival and Fantazia. Three other bands have revealed next year’s themes and the rest of the bands should be following suit soon.   “This year, EPIC Carnival is portraying the theme Persona. We want a unique theme that captures the energy, passion, imagination and culture of our masquerader,” Nadia Jethoo, the Epic Carnival Volunteer Coordinato

Elements and Reign – Reign had the biggest crowd, Elements won the WOW factor By Stephen Weir with Craigg Slowly and Don Moreland - Caribbean Camera Don’t try this after a couple of drinks: checking out two costume launches on the same night half a city apart. A few die-hard revellers with fast cars and spotters at both events, managed the impossible seeing both the Fantazia Carnival’s Elements and Sunlime Canada’s Reign costume launches. It is risky business having two events on the same evening, but, the increased interest in this year’s launch shows, meant that neither mas camp was handed their hats, albeit, both have softer attendance numbers than predicted. The launches showcase the costumes that will be worn this year at the August 4 th Toronto Caribbean Carnival parade. Long time costume designer Will Mortimer used the Elements – Earth, Wind and Fire - as the theme of his Fantazia Carnival launch which was held this year at the York Mills Gallery in North To