It’s that time of year again! The Caribana Festival (now known as The Scotiabank Caribbean Festival) began in 1967 as a Centennial Project of the Caribbean/Canadian Community.
From that humble beginning, the celebration has evolved into the largest street festival in North America.
It really could only happen in Toronto, a city known as a muli-cultural society in which cultural differences are celebrated rather than feared.
This years weekend events (which culminated in yesterday’s colourful parade) attracted more than 1.3 million tourists and injected some $400 million to the city’s economy.
This year, the weather also co-operated and provided bright sunshine (and a steaming 29C!)
Iman, a staff member who still co-ordinates a number of hostel events, escorted a group (more than 15) of backpackers to witness and participate in the parade (or jump up, if you will).
The ladies all got free Henna tattoos which are very attractive and, more importantly, you can easily wash them off.
Then Iman got them all back to the hostel safely (i.e. avoiding heatstroke and dehydration).
So, another Caribbean Festival is over for the season; you`ll have to come back next year to`jump up`.
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