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Montreal’s Caribbean cultural festival and parade is back on this summer after last year’s Carifiesta event was cancelled due to a lack of city funding.
The Caribbean Coalition Network of Montreal (CCNM) announced it has been granted the permit from the city of Montreal to organize this year’s festivities. It will be the 50th anniversary of the festival in the city.
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This year’s event, which will include four separate activities culminating with the parade and after party on July 6, is dubbed the Montreal “Carimas” Festival — a combination of “Caribbean” and “masqueraders,” the name for colourfully costumed parade participants.
The parade route and the location for the Caribbean cultural festival afterward have not been determined yet.
“We wanted the shows to include more about the culture of the Caribbean this year, and not to be just about the parade,” said Kris Bennett, spokesperson for the CCNM. “That’s why we will have two pageants, and a kiddie Carimas festival that will have only children under 18 in the parade, so they get to enjoy the full thing for themselves.”
After the parade will come the Carimas Sizzle, a large party featuring the food, culture and music of the Caribbean, along with vendors selling items from the islands.
Bennett said the city contacted his organization, which represents local associations representing seven Caribbean islands, last year to see if they would put in a bid to organize the event after last year’s was cancelled.
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The CCNM was advised by the city on April 3 that it had been chosen. But organizers and members of the Caribbean community said it gives them only two months to raise funds and contact float and band leaders to see if they will participate on short notice.
The city granted $30,000 in funding for the events. Organizers say they need to raise another $75,000 to cover other costs. They weren’t able to fundraise earlier because they didn’t know until this month whether they would be chosen.
Organizers of Montreal’s annual Carifiesta parade announced the event was being cancelled last year because the city had told them on May 3 it would not grant them $30,000 in funding. City officials told the Montreal Gazette the application was refused because there were numerous deficiencies the organizers failed to rectify despite repeated requests.
The parade has been running since 1974, although funding was withheld in 2010 because of infighting among festival organizers, and the event was cancelled for two years during the pandemic.
Organizers said more than 100,000 attended the 2022 parade when it returned from a two-year hiatus, and roughly 2,000 people participated in it.
More details to come.
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