Trinidad and Tobago Independence Day Parade is coming to Brooklyn for the first time
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The Aug. 30 celebration will bring steelpan music, food and family activities to Flatbush Avenue ahead of the nation’s 64th independence anniversary.
Brooklyn will host its first Trinidad and Tobago Independence Day Parade on Aug. 30, bringing a new Caribbean celebration to Flatbush Avenue. The Trinidad and Tobago Independence Day Parade comes as the borough continues its long tradition of celebrating Caribbean culture through events such as the West Indian Day Parade.
Complex reports the parade will begin at 2 p.m. at Church and Flatbush avenues before heading toward Prospect Park, one day before Trinidad and Tobago marks 64 years of independence from Britain.
Presented by J’Ouvert International for Arts and Culture and sponsored by Jujuterry, the event will feature steelpan music, food and family activities. Organizers are using the theme “Our Culture. Our People. Our Freedom.”
The Brooklyn parade follows the inaugural Jamaican Day Parade, which took place in the same area earlier this month. That celebration brought Jamaican music, food and community events to Flatbush Avenue, reinforcing the neighborhood’s role as a gathering place for New York’s Caribbean communities.
Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from Britain on Aug. 31, 1962, after years of political reform and a push for self-government. The country had previously been part of the West Indies Federation, but pursued independence separately after Jamaica voted to leave the regional union in 1961.
Fourteen years later, Trinidad and Tobago became a republic in 1976.
The independence celebration in Brooklyn will take place alongside longstanding traditions in Trinidad and Tobago. On Aug. 31, the country’s annual Independence Day Parade is scheduled for Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain, where uniformed forces, musicians and performers are expected to take part.
Brooklyn has long been home to one of New York City’s largest Caribbean celebrations. The annual West Indian Day Parade draws people from across the Caribbean diaspora to Eastern Parkway each Labor Day.
This year’s Trinidad and Tobago parade will add another cultural event to that calendar, giving New Yorkers a chance to celebrate the twin-island nation’s history, music and 64th anniversary of independence.