NEW YORK—This Labor Day marks the 43rd year of the West Indian American Day Carnival in Brooklyn.

Several million people showed up to the event, which started at Rochester Avenue and Eastern Parkway and continued onward on Eastern Parkway to the Brooklyn Museum.

The parade, which lasted all day, showcased the bright colors and sounds of the Caribbean, including Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Barbados, and other nations.

As with all parades for the remainder of the year, the Carnival’s parade route has been shortened by about a block as money-saving measure by the city. It used to end at the Grand Army Plaza and was relegated
to stop at the Brooklyn Museum, but it still remains probably the
largest parade and celebration in New York.

Floats, costumed performers and dancers, dubby bass lines, costumed bands, stilt-walkers, and more were on hand during the celebration. Meanwhile, gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and other notable
politicians were also present.

Attendees had the opportunity to sample a litany of foods from the island nations like Jamaican jerk chicken, breadfruit, papaya, and callaloo.

Wyclef Jean, the Haitian-born rapper raised in Brooklyn, was slated to attend the event but due to his current presidential bid in Haiti, did not attend.

Over the past weekend, reggae singers Freddie McGregor, Ky-Mani Marley, David Rudder, and many more performed at a Benefit for Haiti concert sponsored by the West Indian American Day Carnival Association,
who put on the carnival.

Despite all the sensory treats, for many, the parade is worthwhile simply because it brings people together.

“The food, the drinks, the friends, the family that you see they come from all over the world,” parade organizer Jean Alexander said on NY1. “And all of a sudden you meet them. You’re walking down the street and
you see your grandmother or your nephew or somebody who lives in another
country, it is such a wonderful feeling.”