GayCalgary has been covering gay pride parades since the late 90’s, so covering the parade for Cariwest was an amazing experience. Cariwest, Edmonton’s Caribbean Arts Festival started over 30 years ago. I was only able to attend the parade, though the event is 3 days long and includes a launch party, a costume party, and a party at the end of the parade.

All the Cariwest events highlight colorful costumes with Caribbean dance music playing in the background. Each group has their own themed bright colored outfits. The festival is about bringing people together and enjoying Caribbean culture, music, great food and party!  Participants danced around me while I took photos on the street, with some participants pulling large floats as part of their elaborate outfits. Some floats are so massive that they are on wheels and the float is dragged along while the person wearing it dances to music played from a truck a couple meters ahead of the group.

Check out the photos that are online with this article. The limitation of a magazine layout does not give it justice of how much fun and the bright outfits from the event.

Related Articles

Contributor Steve Polyak |

Locale Edmonton |

Topic Community | Travel |

Photo Gallery Edmonton | Travel |