Letter to the editor 

Toronto Carnival: “Stop recycling the same set of people who cannot get the job done”

After two years of guava season (dry spell), Carnival was back with her comeuppance in the city of Toronto on Saturday, 30^th July 2022. It was a cool morning, but the weatherman said it was going to be a hot day. I got dressed for a hot day, but I could feel the chill in my bones.

I headed off to the Ajax Go station; upon my arrival, I noticed many groups of people trying to load their cards and bustling around to catch the 10:23 train. As I arrived on the platform it was splendor in all its glory. Low and behold! There was a sea of masqueraders and spectators; the only thing missing was the sweet sound of calypso and Soca music.

All on board! We are now heading west to Exhibition Place. At every stop, the train became more crowded with people and feathery costumes of every colour you can imagine. As I got off the train there were people everywhere. It was like a sea of ants heading to their hole with the catch of the day preparing for winter. We were all heading in the same direction.

When I got into the CNE the music was pumping hard on my chest, but I did not know where to go. There were no directions signs, so I decided to follow the music. I walked around until I found myself in front of the stage, which was where the photographers and videographers were located. The rules of the festival management were “you must crouch down if you are staying here” providing that you have a media pass. A pad on the ground in front of the stage would have been a comfort to the knees and behinds of media personnel. I noticed that if

you had a big maco camera you were automatically considered to have a media pass, if you had nothing in hand you were pursued. 

There were two tents allocated for VIP.  It consisted mostly of seniors and retired patrons. Why were the tables not taken care of by volunteers after a meal. Security was very poor; they did not know what to do or how to handle the crowd. In front of the stage, it was very difficult for the security guards to take charge but there was one impressive volunteer named Pat who stood out. She took her job seriously. She got the stubborn ones out of the way when guards could not.  People were walking in the path of the parade because there were no markings of where the bands would be dancing down the road. It was a free for all.

As the bands left the stage section by section, there were no sweepers to clean the stage after each performance. It was appalling to see volunteers picking up things left behind on stage by hand. Brooms could not be provided? 

In the food section, it was very difficult to find Caribbean food inside of the CNE. There were foods from Cambodia, Malaysia, and lots of hotdogs and burgers. It was easier to get a hotdog than a doubles but with alcohol in abondance, their was no trouble there. This was a Caribbean festival so there should be no trouble whatsoever to find a roti, piece of currants, and a red solo.

The bands went from the CNE to Lakeshore heading east to Hotel X (around and around they went). Spectators were having a good time and it was an incident-free carnival but it was poorly organized. In the future, more thought should be placed on the production and organization of the festival. The owners of the festival should ask for help if needed and stop recycling the same set of people who cannot get the job done.

Philgence Lue