On Sunday, October 9th, Miami Carnival Inc. will celebrate its 21st Anniversary with a Street Parade and Festival at Bicentennial Park in downtown Miami. The Street Parade starts at 12:00 noon, staging on NE 2nd Avenue between 29th and 35th Streets, moving South to 19th Street, East to NE 4th Avenue, south and into Bicentennial Park.
Music on the Parade Route and in Bicentennial Park will include the best of the Caribbean music bands and entertainers, including Kevin Lyttle (“Turn Me On”), Machel Montano & Xtatik and Traffik of Trinidad & Tobago, Da Bhann of Antigua, Jam Band of the US Virgin Islands, Elvis White from the British Virgin Islands, Small Axe Band from St. Kitts, Rupee and his Dot.Com Band from Barbados, and Soca Chutney band Dil-E-Nadan, along with major entertainers such as Miami’s own Roger George and Nigel Lewis, Shurwayne Winchester, Adesh Samaroo, Terry Gajraj and The Hitman, and Trinidad & Tobago’s three-time Steelband Panorama Champions, Sagicor Exodus Steel Orchestra direct from a tour of Japan.
With more than 25 Masquerade Costume Bands and Steel Bands, local, national and international DJs, and the 2005 King of Trinidad & Tobago Carnival, Curtis Eustace, the Parade will showcase the beauty and pageantry of Mardi Gras – Caribbean style.
The week-long celebration starts with the Junior Carnival on Sunday, October 2nd at Peacock Park in Coconut Grove. The Parade will start at 1:00 p.m., on Grand Avenue and Mary Street, turning right on Commodore Plaza, left on Main Highway, right on McFarlane Road and into Peacock Park. There will be 10 Junior Bands, with masqueraders ranging in age from 6 months to 15 years. The Junior Kings, Queens and Individuals will compete on-stage in Peacock Park. In addition entertainment will be provided by Mix Mov’z Dance Group, Roger George and Nigel Lewis, plus some of Miami’s top soca DJs.
On Thursday, October 6th, the pageantry of Miami Carnival will be on display at Hialeah Park. Starting at 7:00 p.m., the Kings and Queens of the individual masquerade bands will compete for the King and Queen of Miami Carnival titles. With wing spans in excess of 20 feet, sometimes towering 15 feet or more into the air, these costumes must be seen to be believed as the masqueraders dance on-stage. Also included in the show are calypsonians and soca artists from around the Caribbean, including St. Lucia’s 2004 and 2005 Party Monarch, Roger George, Nigel Lewis, and Emcees Mike Andrews and Giselle D’ Wassi One.
Finally, on Friday, October 7th, join the Steelbands as they perform the routines for which they have practiced for the last six months, and join them afterward for the Miami Carnival Breakfast and J’Ouvert Parade of Steel Bands. Also included in the show will be the “Ole Mas” (satires on government bodies and entities and today’s headlines) competition, with cash prizes and trophies.
The South Florida community is gearing up for Miami Carnival’s usual presentation of beautiful mas and exciting pan. All over South Florida, Pan Yards are humming as the steel bands practice for their own championship. Said one Miami Pan Man, “In 2004 we let a band come from Orlando and beat us … the trophy staying in Miami in 2005”.
CEO Selman Lewis said “Miami Carnival is an institution in South Florida and we are fortunate to be able to say we are the closest thing to Trinidad &Tobago’s Carnival outside of the Caribbean. We have all the ingredients for a great Carnival – the weather, the beaches, the mas, the pan, the calypsonians, and we have all the parties – Convention Center, Glow, Girl Power, Socavivor, All-Inclusives by the score, and parties at almost every club in South Beach and downtown Miami. Every music band and calypsonian from every Caribbean island is here for Miami Carnival. We have more Caribbean entertainers than any other Carnival, including T&T”.
Supported by the Caribbean Consulates, the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County and the Cultural Affairs Department, Comcast, MTV Tempo, Hennessy, Bernuth Lines, MoneyGram, the Miami Herald and especially by our Caribbean community, Miami Carnival plans to introduce reggae, reggaeton and Haitian Konpa into the mix and draw on the larger South Florida community. Miami Carnival is truly blessed. If you haven’t been to Carnival yet, make plans now to be here on October 9th in downtown Miami.
For a listing of Miami Carnival events visit, www.miamicarnival.net.
