Carnival Day

According to the West Indian American Day Carnival Association website, this is the largest summer festival in the United States with over 2 million attending. Brooklyn has a huge West Indian population, so it not surprising that the Caribbean carnival takes place there. Now it in its 40th year, the event culminates on Labor Day with a parade along 15 blocks of Eastern parkway from Utica Ave. to Grand Army Plaza (read about the parade's history here). There are a series of events leading up to the labor Day extravaganza such as Dimanche Gras which features a costume competition. This festival/carnival is about food, music, costumes and the parade. There's lots of food on both sides of Eastern Parkway for the entire length of the parade route, with barbecuing and tell tale smoke everywhere. Eastern Parkway is a beautiful, wide, tree lined boulevard (also home to the Brooklyn Museum - click here). The food is authentic West Indian cuisine, spanning the range represented by the various Island nations, with specialties like jerk chicken, oxtail, macaroni pie, fried flying fish, curry goat, roti, callaloo, souse, salt fish, fried bake and coconut bread. The music was very loud, from the parade floats, vendors and the spectators. The festival officially runs from 8AM to 6 PM. Unfortunately, I did not stay long enough to see the best costumes, judging from last years photos. Note: that's red velvet cake in the lower right photo ...