As the Caribana Festival celebrates 40 years, it remains the No. 1 annual tourist event and the largest cultural festival in North America. (Ernest Doroszuk, Toronto Sun)

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When Canada was just a mere 100 years young (relatively young compared to other free nations), she made history by hosting what was once known as Expo 67. Toronto’s West Indian community was asked to contribute to the centennial celebrations, and of the West Indian community who were asked to contribute, 10 people hailing from a mixture of Caribbean islands sharing a common West Indian culture created a Caribbean Arts Festival that would come to be known as Caribana. Their dream was to create a monument of goodwill, a confirmation of Caribbean culture and a statement of belonging to their adopted land of Canada.

The group of 10 was first called the Centennial Committee; however, having been formally incorporated on July 28, 1967, they became the Caribbean Committee for Cultural Advancement. The name changed once more to the Caribbean Cultural Committee and on January 15, 1969, Caribana was trademarked.

The festival of 1967 was full of arts, with a book fair, painting exhibit, a theatre production and other events. The first parade kicked off at the Varsity Stadium travelling along Bloor Street and winding down Yonge Street to the New City Hall, where it culminated with a big concert.

While the celebration was a gift to Canada that first year, it was also a celebration of African Liberation and Emancipation Day and it is no small coincidence that it is held each year on the Lord Simcoe weekend. (Lord Simcoe helped abolish slavery here in Canada in 1793.) Dr. Rita Cox, a volunteer since 1967, claims it was and is still a wonderful, powerful gift in many different ways.

“It is a great bridge builder. We still have more bridges to build with the mainstream community and this is a way to do it. Open it up. It must embrace new sounds, new technologies, but we must never forget it has roots. It grew out of our history, it grew out of slavery, it is not just a party,” Cox says.

As the Caribana Festival celebrates 40 years, it remains the No. 1 annual tourist event and the largest cultural festival in North America. It is a dynamic four-week cultural explosion of Caribbean music, arts, culture and cuisine.

Caribana Festival is about the celebration of Carnival, a representation of freedom — not just a time of year for playful delight. It is a ritual rooted in the experience of slavery and in the celebration of freedom from slavery. It represents the culture of African slaves who emancipated themselves from an institution of hatred, the culture of Caribbean descendants paying homage to their ancestral legacy and the culture of Canadians wishing to share their history with the world.

Caribana is an event to experience! Feel the excitement and the energy from the moment you walk onto Lakeshore Boulevard. See the enormous floats adorned with a blur of colours, feathers, beads and sequins. Watch the masqueraders as they cascade across the street, as music saturates your eardrums with the contagious beats of calypso, soca and steel drums. Inhale the scents of Caribbean cuisine that penetrate the air.

Caribana is about experiencing Caribbean culture, it is a true representation of “All things Caribbean.”