A glitter-studded red and gold top with angular edges and a matching skirt. At the age of 14, Giselle “The Wassi One” Blanche wore her first masquerade costume at her first Miami Carnival in 1988. Blanche remembers her first carnival with nostalgia, describing it as thrilling. “My mother and I constructed the outfits by ourselves. Regarding her carnival experience, Blanche remarked, “We designed and made that, and to this day, 36 years later, it’s still very much the same.”
She will be among the 100,000 revelers celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Miami Carnival, which is still set to go on as originally scheduled despite many believing it would be called off due to Hurricane Milton concerns. Miami Carnival is a three-day event that takes place over Columbus Day weekend, honoring Caribbean heritage and culture with competitions, music, food, and arts and crafts.
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“It should be more, quite frankly.” Director of marketing for Miami Carnival John Beckford, informed the Miami Herald about the turnout, “Forty years later, I wish it was half a million.”
Akin to an auctioneer, Beckford listed the highlights of this year’s carnival: over forty performers, local DJs, a dancehall area, Caribbean cuisines, and more. This year, 21 Mas bands—including Blanche, who founded her own Mas band, Wassi Ones—will square off for $10,000. The Miami Junior Carnival kicked off the festivities last weekend, and the main event will take place over three days, beginning on Friday with the Panorama Steel Band Competition, ending on Sunday with the Mas Band Parade and performances by Patrice Roberts, a singer from Trinidad, and rapper Lyrikal, from Saint Vincent.
One of the earliest instruments made in the 20th century is the steel drum, to which the Panorama Steel Band Competition is a tribute. Jouvert is a celebration of street dancing that follows calypso and soca musicians. Over 18,000 masqueraders and over 20 mas bands will dance along a parade route during the Parade of Bands, which will be followed by a band adjudication. Every band also has a concept that they represent through elaborate, brightly colored outfits.
At Panorama, longtime Carnival partners and artists including the Trinidadian musician Machel Montano and radio host Mike Andrews—who served as one of the original Miami Carnival’s DJs—will be recognized. At the Concert and Parade of Bands, Montano will also receive honors. The effects of Miami’s inaugural Carnival for Caribbean residents in northern states—where October may be chilly—are something Andrews remembers.
“We are still warm down here, and for the few visitors that came down to be able to be outside in short pants and T-shirts and sandals and sneakers and enjoying the music of the Caribbean and hanging out with friends and eating food – it was an experience that they enjoyed tremendously.”
These days, Miami Carnival is supported by Miami-Dade County, The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, and sponsors including Red Stripe and Monster Juice. However, Beckford stated that during the carnival’s early years, the founding members frequently had to pay for the event themselves.
“Back then they used their personal funds and got a second mortgage on their house,” he stated.
Located at the intersection of 183rd Street and Seventh Avenue in what is now Miami Gardens, the inaugural Miami Carnival was once known as the West Indian American Carnival of Miami. Carnival season, which begins in February in the Caribbean and ends with carnivals in Toronto and Brooklyn, New York, is said to come to an end with the Miami Carnival.
About twelve persons made up the founding group, among them Ruthven Williams, the first chair and board member of Miami Carnival who has served in several capacities for the company throughout the years.
Williams pointed out, “It was a bit rough because, at one point in time, we had a bill to pay and didn’t have the money.”
Williams added, “And in those days we’re being paid by checks.”
Marlon Hill, general attorney for Miami Carnival, said that the event had a role in the increasing number of Caribbean residents in South Florida.
He remarked, “This was the early, early days of the development of the Caribbean community, and more specifically, those from Trinidad and Tobago who have had more of a long-standing tradition with carnival culture.”
The combined population of Broward and Miami-Dade counties is about 342,000 Caribbean people, according to the U.S. Census. Hill, a native of Kingston, Jamaica, claimed to have gone to his first carnival in the early 1990s on Biscayne Boulevard in Miami.
“It was great to have the carnival out in the open street,” he stated. “It is a common Caribbean carnival experience because whenever you have a carnival in the Caribbean, the entire country is celebrating the carnival. It’s not a specific city or a specific county. The entire country is involved.”
Hill underlined that the steel drum, the artistic quality of the costumes and masquerade, and the music are all vital components of the carnival. He did, however, point out the carnival’s rich history. Hill expressed, “Carnival was born out of a historical context around resistance to oppression to express ourselves as black people.”
He added, “Many people forget that historical context.”
“They get distracted by the euphoria of being at the carnival fete or the pageantry.”
Speaking endlessly about Sunday’s events, Beckford also underlined that carnival culture is celebrated and goes beyond “beads and feathers.”
He explained, “There just so much to do: You have your dance hall zone. You’ve got the mas band stage where the bands are crossing. You’ve got the concert stage, you’ve got the food court, you’ve got the arts and crafts pavilion. You have the corporate pavilion where folks are giving out free stuff.”
He concluded in his statement, “I mean it’s just 12 hours of entertainment.”
