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Event
Information:
The
Labor Day Parade (or West Indian
Carnival), is an annual celebration
held on American Labor Day (the
first Monday in September), in Crown
Heights, Brooklyn, New York. The
main event of the parade is the West
Indian-American Day Parade, which
attracts between one and three
million participators. The
spectators and participators watch
and follow the parade on its route
along Eastern Parkway.
The
earliest known Carnival street
parade was held on September 1,
1947. The Trinidad Carnival Pageant
Committee was the founding force
behind the parade, which was held in
Harlem. The parade route was along
Seventh Avenue, starting at 110th
St.
The
first Carnival Queen was Miss
Dorothy Godfrey. The Committee
raised money to finance the parade.
They sold advertisement space and
boosters, that were printed in a
Souvenir Journal for West Indies
Day, a booklet which is a memento of
that first parade. Mrs. Jessie
Waddell Compton is presented in the
journal as the person "whose
inspiration and enterprise" was owed
to the formation of this committee.
The committee consisted of Mrs.
Waddell Compton-Chairman; Ivan H.
Daniel-Vice Chairman; Conrad
Matthews-Treasurer; Roy
Huggins-Secretary; and Robert J.
Welsh-Assistant Secretary. Each
member of the committee contributed
in helping to organize the parade.
The after-parade party, which the
Trinidad Carnival Pageant Committee
held at the Golden Gate Ballroom
(located at 142nd St. and Lenox
Ave), was arranged by James M.
Green, another figure who helped
make the first Carnival Parade in
Harlem successful.
The
permit for the Harlem parade was
revoked in 1964. Five years later, a
committee headed by Carlos Lezama,
which eventually became the West
Indian-American Day Carnival
Association, obtained approval for
the parade to be established on
Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, where
it remains today. Many Calypso and
Soca songs from Trinidad make
reference to Labour Day Carnival,
including "Gunplay on the Eastern
Parkway" by Calypso Rose, "Melee (on
the Eastern Parkway)" by Maestro, "Labour
Day in Brooklyn" by the Mighty
Sparrow. Jay-Z mentions the Labor
Day Carnival on his hit song Empire
State of Mind when he says "3 dice
Cee-lo, 3 card monte, Labor Day
Parade, rest in peace Bob Marley".
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