St Pauls Carnival in Bristol on 7th July 2018
Posted on: 07 Jun 2018St Pauls Carnival will be returning to brighten up Bristol’s streets once again on Saturday 7th of July, this time for its 50th anniversary. The carnival first took place in 1968 and has since become an annual celebration of African Caribbean communities in the UK, attracting up to 90,000 people each year. After a four year hiatus, the carnival is back this year and looks to be bigger and better than ever!
Created as a way to represent the best of Afro-Caribbean culture, the carnival celebrates the diversity and vibrancy of communities found in Bristol. Following World War 2, over 500 people from the Caribbean (predominantly from Jamaica) were brought to the UK to make up for losses experienced as a result of the war. These individuals and their families have massively enriched areas across the country, including St Pauls, despite facing huge prejudice upon their arrival. The event celebrates community spirit, unity and the embracing of other cultures, with its aim being to ‘break down boundaries with each year’.
The carnival kicks off at 9am. Its main event will be the masquerade procession, in which people display incredible home-crafted costumes whilst walking alongside vibrant floats from local schools and cultural associations. 12 sound sites will flood the streets throughout the day with dub, reggae, hip hop, R&B, Roots and Soul.
As always, there will be various performers, covering everything from music, dance, spoken word, poetry, visual art and theatre. These will be displayed predominantly from the Main ‘Windrush’ stage. And as well as dozens of performances, a range of stalls will be present selling authentic foods from multiple cultures.
You definitely won’t struggle finding somewhere to continue the event into the night, with after parties due to take place at Motion, The O2 Academy and Blue Mountain.
If all of that hasn’t already convinced you, visit the carnival’s Facebook page here to see more of what to expect and for more details.
For those of you that would love to get involved, the carnival are still in need of plenty of volunteers! If you would be interested in helping out at what’s sure to be an inspiring event, fill in the application form here.
Article by:
Iona is a final year Biomedical Science Undergraduate at the University of Bristol. Her passions include blogging, walks by the harbour and exploring new cocktail venues. Iona is working with 365Bristol as part of the Santander Internship scheme for spring and summer 2018.
