LABOR DAY WEEKEND: Prepare to celebrate Carnival

A sea of ornate costumes, lively music, and overwhelming enthusiasm, the West Indian American Day Parade will makes its 45th annual appearance in Crown Heights, with lead-up events starting August 30 and culminating with the huge parade on Labor Day, Monday, September 3.

The West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA), runs the city’s biggest parade, which features a variety of musical performances and festivities that extend throughout the day along Eastern Parkway between Utica Avenue and Grand Army Plaza. There, parade-goers will not only have the opportunity to enjoy the spectacle but also indulge in the flavors of the Caribbean, thanks to the vendors lining the parade route.

Beforehand, the celebration will kick off with Mas, Mas and More Mas at 7 p.m. on August 30 on the grounds of the Brooklyn Museum (200 Eastern Parkway, $25 in advance). This will be followed by the Original Brass Fest at 8 p.m. on August 31 at the Brooklyn Museum ($45 in advance), the Junior Carnival Parade at 9 a.m. on September 1 at the Brooklyn Museum (admission, $2) and the Panorama steel band competition at 8 p.m. on September 1 ($40 in advance), and the Dimanche Gras show at 7 p.m. on September 2 ($30 in advance).

“You can rest assured that we are going to put on a world-class show worthy of our 45th years of doing this thing,” says Thomas Bailey, the newly appointed president of WIADCA. Bailey expressed hopes of renewing the spirit of the carnival, to garner a larger audience for this year’s carnival and to ignite a greater enthusiasm in the community.

For more information, go to www.wiadcacarnival.org.