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Every summer, Toronto, Canada blazes with the excitement of calypso, steel pan and elaborate masquerade costumes during the annual Caribbean carnival formerly known as Caribana. Recently renamed the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto, the Festival celebrates its 44th anniversary in 2011.
It is the largest Caribbean festival in North America. Presented by the City of Toronto's Festival Management Committee, the month-long Festival attracts over a million participants annually, including hundreds of thousands of American tourists.
Among the highlights is the Parade, one of the largest in North America. Thousands of brilliantly costumed masqueraders and dozens of trucks carrying live soca, calypso, steel pan, reggae and salsa artists jam the 1.5 km parade route all day, to the delight of hundreds of thousands of onlookers.
Caribana was created in 1967 as a community heritage project for Canada's Centennial year. Based on Trinidad Carnival, the Festival now also includes the music, dance, food and costumes of many Caribbean islands, and other cultures represented in Toronto - the world's most culturally diverse city.
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