IN THE BEGINNING

There were good times! There were bad times! However Caribana survived for 50 plus years

There were two committees in 1966 to plan for the first Caribana celebration. The board of Governors was led by Alban Liverpool and the Executive committee was led by Sam Cole..

One article stated Cole was the one who sent a letter to the mayor asking for permission to stage the event. The same article later had Cole being asked by Mayor Dennison to stage the event again in 1968. However Cole's name didn't appear on the list of directors for the new organization called The Caribbean Committee for Cultural Advancement.

People from both committees came together and formed the new board chaired by Alban Liverpool. It was Liverpool the new chair who expressed his appreciation to the Toronto Mayor, other government members and the police for their support and help in staging the 68 festival.

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Ten islands were initially involved in Caribana. Many had representatives on the board. Later more islands were added and there were often boards consisting on close to twenty members. Caribana was chaired by people from various islands. The Caribbean people were proud of Caribana because it was part of their culture. No one island dominated the festival, until the 1980s when a group named Harambee took total control of the board and festival and that's when the festival started going downhill.

The new people knew nothing about the structure and capabilities of the organization when dealing with the various government agencies. They dropped all the various fund raising events that allowed the festival to operate with very little money and input from the city, province and the federal government. Later the boards went to the city for funding and that's when the city saw the opportunity to take over and control the festival. Caribana has never been the same since and will never be the same until and unless it finds its roots.

The recent COVID-19 pandemic shows that carnivals worldwide are in trouble. Brazil one of the world's greatest carnival celebration is on hold due to the increasing numbers of COVID-19 infective persons. Restarting any carnival will need precaution exposing folks coming in from various countries where the virus is still present in their population.