VIRTUAL CARIBBEAN VIBES…
Organisers of one of the years most loved and largest public events, Preston Caribbean Carnival, have confirmed that the event will now be streamed on-line. The event which had moved to Sunday 1st August in the hope of being able to celebrate in the streets once again will now be virtual. Photography: Paul Melling
Considered one of the city’s biggest major events in the region, planning for the two-day celebration of African-Caribbean culture is a major undertaking and takes many months of careful planning. Despite the government’s announcement detailing the roadmap out of lockdown it was decided to postpone this year. The committee is focused on looking ahead to celebrate Caribbean culture, music, dance and food and being back together for the two day celebrations in 2022 and are already busy planning.
The weekend events, ‘One Park’ & Carnival which is attended by over 50,000 people in the streets of Preston and local park was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid restrictions. Once again the pandemic is affecting plans for a safe event.
Large open access events like Carnival are not able to control the numbers that attend and without selling tickets, no way of knowing where those people come from or travel back to. Despite the fantastic rollout of the vaccination programme, there are still public health risks that have to be taken into consideration. Public safety is paramount and both the committee and the city council are working together to ensure safety measures are in place for future activities.
Chair Tracey Harris is confident for 2022 and claims: “We are very disappointed but rest assured Carnival will return to party and celebrate in the streets once again.”
The virtual Carnival takes place on Sunday 1st August and aims to bring everyone together to enjoy a fun day of activities all live streamed with something for everyone. Live musical performances, the tropical sounds of steel pans, fun workshops – make a carnival collar, cooking demo, make a cocktail or two with us story time for the young ones and of course plenty of music from the Caribbean from local and international DJ’s.
