Vaughan’s Charity Caribbean Carnival will go on By Cindy Ramkumar
VAUGHAN -- July 2012 takes us to the city of Vaughan and North York. CariVaughan takes splendor in its resplendent colors and masqueraders. It’s the first and only Caribbean Cultural event in the city, which includes a parade, and stage show featuring local and international soca, calypso, chutney and reggae artists. This festival follows the traditional Toronto “Caribana” which is now called the Toronto Carnival Festival.
While CariVaughan, portrays the Caribbean to hundreds and expected thousands of revelers and spectators, of various multicultural and ethnic backgrounds, CariVaughan has its underlying goals and missions. The festival’s main mission is to raise awareness of Sickle Cell disease. This disease like all diseases has its challenges. Support for Sickle Cell Disease is unwavering as the community shows support by enjoying past and present festivals. The North York Hospital, has provided unwavering support for Carivaughan and its initiative, in the form of eliminating waiting times in the Emergency for Sickle Cell Patients and allowing these patients to get immediate care at the hospital when needed. Such a grand and purposeful festival has had and continues to have its challenges. The event organizers have had challenges in trying to get the bigger bands that will perform in Toronto Caribbean Carnival to perform and parade at CariVaughan. Sources mention, these band are bound by “contract” which we are not privy to, which eliminates or hinders their performance in any GTA Caribbean Festivals. These “contracts” also threaten their funding in the any other GTA Caribbean Festival. None-the-less,
CariVaughan members after a successful SocaCise fundraiser at Luxy Night Club.
Photo By: CariVaughan
performances outside of the GTA, which include Barrie and Hamilton, will go on as scheduled for 2012. It is safe to say that the smaller bands that perform in Toronto Caribbean Carnival, will be allowed to perform in “small GTA” Carnival festivals, like Brampton and CariVaughan, however when mention and or invitation to bigger bands are initiated, this is met with great resistance. It is difficult to imagine that a small scale Caribbean Cultural event, with mere thousands of spectators and revelers, could threaten or underlie the foundations of the
Toronto Caribbean Festival, which garners millions of visitors and spectators. However the powers that be are taking the stance that inevitable competition from CariVaughan, is taking away from the previously named “ Caribana”. Unfortunately, to date there has been no resolution. Larger mas camp band leaders hands are bound by the powerful word “contract” and may or will not be participating in CariVaughan. Continued On Page 2