Although this past Labor Day weekend was officially my second while living in New York City, it was my first time experiencing the Caribbean Day Parade. The parade was held at Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue right off of the last 4-train stop. Lucky me, my sister was in town and she rented a car! Seeing the street from above the underground tunnels of the subway was a treat that I won’t be able to experience again until I have the big bucks for a car and insurance.
Since New York City is the place where they think everyone knows exactly where everything is and how to get there, I couldn’t find an address to put in my GPS to find the exact spot of the parade and a good place to park the day before. I asked a friend who is a native New Yorker, where the parade would be held (Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue) and fortunately the GPS was familiar with cross streets! So off we were in search of the area near the parade and then a place to park.
A few days before, many people told me “You have to get there early to get a parking spot,” meaning 10 am or earlier and we hadn’t left until around 11 am. Because parades can be crowded and do disrupt traffic, I secretly feared it would be hard to find parking and we would end up doing so much time doing that. As we came close to where the parade was held, I forgot about the parking for a few minutes because I was in awe of all the parade goers with flags wrapped around their shoulders like Superman, paint all over their body, glitter all over the girl’s bodies and intricate masquerade outfits. Seeing how proud they were with their flags and outfits made me think of how hard it must be to leave your home country in search of better opportunities but how great it is to be able to proudly and freely display their heritage in their new home.
In the car, we followed the crowd and found a Rite-Aid with an empty parking lot and Dollar Vans that had their music blaring. To cover the real reason why we were parking in their lot, we went inside, looked around the store for about ten minutes and ended up buying some snacks for less than five dollars. As we walked out of Rite-Aid, we headed toward the sidewalk not knowing which direction to go. There were people who looked like they were going to the parade walking left and right, not giving us a good idea of who to follow or which way to go. We decided to walk right and after 3 blocks realized it was the wrong way. We turned around, passed Rite-Aid again and it started to feel like we were getting warmer. Vendors were up and down the sidewalks selling memorabilia, ethnic food and parade essentials like umbrellas and flags.
We finally approached the street with barricades and hundreds of people standing behind them and knew this was it. We were one row behind the barricade with a decent view. The parade didn’t start on time and began with about six campaigners and their posse of supporters holding posters and handing out pamphlets. That was pretty boring to see but hopefully they bought a spot in the parade and of course they’ve got to get the word out. The parade finally began with masqueraders and ginormous floats with music bumping so hard and loud I felt it in my chest. After an hour of standing in the sun, the parade suddenly felt ruining and not exciting by all the people who decided to jump the barricades and stand in the streets thus blocking the masqueraders and ruining the show. Around 1:30 pm we decided to leave and head out to our next Labor Day adventure.
INTERPRETED AS... 
Leave a comment