Time to party island-style, Brooklyn! Expect thousands of people this Labor Day, Sept. 1 on Eastern Parkway for the 58th Annual West Indian Day Parade: a spectacular, carnival celebration of Caribbean history, culture, music, food and people.
The high-energy parade will kick off at 10:00am from Rochester Avenue and moves west along Eastern Parkway. The parade route ends at the Brooklyn Museum, where there will be a stage for presentations, costume competitions and performances.
The parade will be the final event of a week-long festival of Caribbean heritage in Brooklyn called New York Carnival Week. There's the Soca Fest Music Festival on on Friday, Aug. 29; the steelpan drum competition and Junior Cainival on Saturday, Aug. 30; and the Ultimate Fete, a rum and music celebration takes place on Sunday, Aug. 31. These events take place in front of the Brooklyn Museum and are ticketed.
Monday's parade also celebrates a holiday called J'Ouvert, which comes from the French word for daybreak. J'Ouvert starts at the break of dawn on Sept. 1 to celebrate the end of slavery in the Caribbean and the impact of Caribbean culture in the U.S.
J'Ouvert initially started as a pre-Lent celebration in February or March. But it shifted dates to Labor Day so that the event could be outside, according to the West Indian American Day Carnival Association.
This year's J'Ouvert route starts at Grand Army Plaza, goes down Flatbush Avenue and takes a left onto Empire Boulevard. There are performance stops on Bedford, Rogers and Nostrand Avenues before ending at Winthrop Street.
Street closures will begin the night before at 11:30pm on Sunday, Aug 31 for J'Ouvert, and will remain in effect until 11am on Monday. Flatbush Avenue will be closed from Grand Army Plaza to Empire Boulevard. Empire Boulevard will be closed from Flatbush across to Nostrand. And Nostrand Avenue will be closed from Empire Boulevard down to Rutland Road.
There will be 13 entry points along Empire Boulevard and Nostrand Avenue where all spectators will be screened with hand-held metal detectors by NYPD personnel before entering the viewing areas, according to the NYPD.
The crown jewels of the parade on Labor Day are the two highly competitive contests: the steel drum band contest and the costume contest. Several floats will be hosted by local community partners of the WIADCA and two people will also be crowned king and queen of the parade.
Street closures will begin at 6:00am on Monday. At that time, Eastern Parkway will be shut down between Ralph Avenue and Utica Avenue and the side streets in that area. Rockaway Parkway, Buffalo Avenue, East New York Avenue, Portal Street, Rochester Avenue and Union Street will all be closed.
Then at approximately 10:30am, those closures expand. Eastern Parkway will be fully closed from Utica all the way to Grand Army Plaza. All northbound and southbound streets feeding into the Parkway will also be closed.
New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch said visitors on Monday can expect about 2,500 police officers in Brooklyn this weekend, the largest police deployment of the year and bigger than deployments for New Year's Eve in Times Square and for July 4th festivities.
"This must remain a celebration, not an occasion marred by guns or disorder," Tisch said on Friday. "This weekend is meant to highlight culture, music, and Caribbean pride, and it should not be overshadowed by headlines about bloodshed or chaos."
For all of the street closures due to the carnival, click here.
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