Expressions of our culture; Junior Carnival Parade and Family Day

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

Malvern came alive like never before, and some readers may be wondering came alive? How? The Junior Carnival Parade and Family Day is the answer; from the: costumes, the children, the food, the families, the music, the sweltering heat to everything in between, it was carnival at its best and Toronto Caribbean Newspaper was on hand to witness it all. Toronto Caribbean Newspaper spoke with the Chief Operations Officer of the Festival Management Committee (the group responsible for Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival) Mr. Christopher Alexander at length about the Junior Carnival Parade and Family Day, which took place on July 20^th, in Scarborough, Ontario. Alexander told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper “This year we did more in Malvern than we ever have before. The Junior Carnival is a series of events that started last Saturday, moved on to the Junior King and Queen, right up to the Junior Carnival and Family Day with a Junior Showcase inside of the park.”

Alexander told us, “The Junior Parade is for babies and children up to age 16. You have children who participated in the Junior King and Queen that will be showcasing their costumes in this parade also; all the costumes were judged, and winners were chosen. There are lots of events that took place in the park that made up the family day; events like the Grace sponsored food festival, which is a cooking competition for young people. The theme this year was Young People Cooking with a Parent or Guardian. All the cooking ingredients were sponsored by Grace Foods, and the children had a chance to win a prize for their cooking.”

“In the park,” Alexander said, “we had the main stage, and that’s where the entertainment takes place. We had: steel bands, calypso singers, and our feature presentation was Aron Duncan, the young Calypso Monarch from Trinidad. We also had an African group called Neema performing; there were rides, games, and food all to top off the family event in the park. This is our fifth year in Malvern,” the COO of Toronto’s Carnival said. “We used to be at Jane and Finch then we moved to Downsview Station. Here in the Malvern community we have an audience of over 23,000 people in the area and growing.

When asked about all the work that goes into putting on an event like this one Alexander said, “The overall chores goes from: logistic to setup, to event management, to dealing with all the city services including police, fire services, ambulances, parks and recreations and planning the operations, and planning the route. All of this links with marketing and finance too. So you see, the role is very much like the role of a quarterback. My job is to ensure that all members of the team are following the same playbook and executing as a team.”

The Toronto Carnival COO had high praises for the community of Malvern calling them “One of the most vibrant communities I has ever seen,” He also had a message for his team, “I am humbled to be among them, it all rests on their backs and they are the ones that made this all happen.”

In the last part of our interview, Alexander told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper “We want the public to know that this is an expression of our culture; we are counting on the public’s continuous support. Caribbean culture brings over $400,000.00 into the city of Toronto. We are counting on sponsors to support us more, and for the government to take this seriously and continue to support us more too.”

Aren’t you anxious to hear who won this year? The top three winning children’s bands for 2019 are:

1. First position: Toronto Revelers (theme -Treasure Island)
2. Second position: Carnival Nations (theme -Savanah Grass)
3. Third position: Louis Saldenah Mass K Club (theme -Heartbeat the Thrill of Life)