Memoirs of Caribana in Toronto: Childhood Memories

As Canada marked its 150th anniversary since Confederation that also means Caribana or Toronto Carnival (depending on who you ask) marks 50 years since its inception back in 1967 as a thank you from Toronto’s Caribbean community. Full disclosure, I am not old enough to tell you about how it went from day one but, I can tell you my perspective from 30+ years of immersing myself in Caribana.

For me, when I think of Caribana I conjure up images of vivid costumes, dancing on the streets of Toronto (not the Lakeshore fenced in), steel pan making you move, meeting new people that share the same heritage as you and bumping into an old friend from ‘back home’ (okay that last one is from my parents perspective). I think you get the picture, it was a celebration of culture and diversity in Toronto before weekly cultural festivals were a thing.
Toronto wasn’t always the mosaic we brag about now, it is important we understand that. From my understanding it only really started blowing up in the mid-70s and onward as Pierre Trudeau relaxed immigration policies. My parents were among those people as I’m sure quite a few people reading this now were too.
Where did it all begin? I couldn’t really tell you that in detail but, I can tell you where it started for me, University Avenue! As a baby in a stroller, I did not really have much say but according to my mom I didn’t seem to cry or hate it so I guess I liked it (shrug). As I got out of the stroller I learned more about it, my family was involved in Caribana so spending evenings at pan yards, mas camps and random people’s garages was virtually every summer until I was about 10. I may have gone to Kiddies Carnival before but, I have no recollection of it to be honest.

My father worked with one of the bandleaders at their day job so he would drag me to go bribing me with fried chicken (Dixie Lee at VP and Danforth, what you know about that). He seemed to know everyone which in turn became ‘Waynie boy?! Yuh na rememba me…Las time I does see yuh…Yuh was dis small nuh! Yuh getting proppa big like yuh daddy’. I was shy and when someone talked to me in a thick Trini or Guyanese accent I had to translate it in my head before I replied so it ended up with a lot of nodding and smiling until they left me alone or pointed me to the channa and the kola champagne which is where the other kids were. I could not name a single one of those kids today if my life depended on it.

When Caribana day rolled around, my father was usually a Band Marshall or helping out with the sound equipment so when my sister and I would see his band he would look out for us and pull us over the barricades (Sorry, I was a ‘stormer’ from time). The University Avenue route I loved because you were in the middle of downtown and the energy you felt was great also it was right off the subway we didn’t need a shuttle bus or streetcar. Back in those days the downtown train cars were red and in between stops the lights would go off, so that would trip me out almost every time. Also, because it was downtown you could not avoid it like you can now on the Lakeshore. Being downtown, helped bolster its popularity and made it the street party to be at whether you were Caribbean or not. The route would end by the ferry docks and the party continued on the Toronto Islands. I will be the first to admit these were different times and the crowds did not swell over a million like nowadays but just something about that route felt good. Maybe because, it was a group of mostly immigrants taking over the streets for a day, there was some pride in that.

My fondest memory as a kid at Caribana happened in 1993 or 1994. The parade was at CNE grounds a few years now and it was a rainy day. My father called me out of nowhere to go down there with him, not really much of a choice but I went. In hindsight, it was a great decision on my part that I wouldn’t fully grasp until after the fact. He was with the same band and brought me along and I got see firsthand the madness under the Gardiner that happens as a band does last minute preparations before hitting the road. Soundchecks, wiring, canvas to cover speakers because of the rain, masqueraders needing last minute adjustments, lots of cuss words flying around, being asked to get tools I had no business using.
Then suddenly, it happened. CityTV was there to tape behind the scenes stuff to cut together and show like an hour long special on the parade because there was on CP24 back then to broadcast it live. I got to meet Monika Deol from Electric Circus!!! And to this day I doubt I got a full sentence out I was stammering the whole time because I mean she was soooo FINE! Also, I ended up being in the background on the Caribana special. I was a celebrity within my extended family for a minute. It’s likely I still have the special on a VHS somewhere.

After meeting Monika Deol (life goal completed) and we were set for the road, I got to sit in a refreshments truck. My father was probably liming somewhere so I was in a Ryder truck with a random man driving. The rain had finally stopped and the roar of the crowd excited by the music and costumes was overwhelming in a good way. One of my father’s friends opened the truck door on my side. We were about half way through the parade route and asked me to come with him. After some prodding I went and the crowd clearly was not yelling for me but it felt like it and I got caught up in the moment.
I was handed a Trinidad flag on a staff and I was told me to run on the route and wave the flag and ‘rep yuh culture’. It should be noted I lacked upper body strength, I doubted my dancing abilities and I was terrified. Then I heard one of my jams at the time it could’ve been ‘Jump (On D’ Count of 4)’ by Second Imij or a song by Colin Lucas called ‘Do The Iwer, Butterfly, Shadow, Wave’ or maybe it was ‘Flag Party’ by Superblue, (I cannot recall the exact year correctly)and I went off for about 5 minutes.
Hearing the crowd cheer me on and high five me along the way was one of the coolest feelings I ever felt to that point. It got me to break out of my shell and loosen up a bit. Then I was jamming a bit along the parade route with pretty much no supervision (Sorry Mom!) then went back to the Ryder truck. That rush of that crowd will stay with me forever.
It’s pretty cliché to say that it ‘changed my life’ but those memories did have an effect on how I viewed my culture, the music and the respect for the tireless work bandleaders put in year after year. It was important to show up because if we didn’t, there may not be a Caribana the following year and there were more than enough times it was almost cancelled. There was no internet, so showing support meant going to the parade, the cricket dances, steel pan showcases, the few soca concerts put together.

The abundance of soca fetes and concerts we feel now in Toronto were a result of the foundation paved by the generations before us, that is never lost on me nor should it ever be lost on anyone.
Now this just showcased my childhood memories, I still got more to share about the teenage to young adult years at Caribana. But, that’s going to be a different post. In closing, if you got to experience Caribana on University Avenue count your blessings! It was better to be free on the streets than fenced in to one area secluded from the rest of Toronto. While I’m a proud Canadian I am happy to say I also know my roots, thanks in large part to Caribana!
Part 2 is coming soon until then, if you would like to continue the conversation among your friends or with me I would love to hear your memories.
Enjoy the Lime!
Waynie TDot
