West Indian Day Parade Timeline

2018

West Indian Day Parade is huge

Upwards of 3 million people now converge on New York for the annual West Indian Day Parade, making it one of the biggest festivals in the world.

1969

The parade moved to Brooklyn

The West Indian-American Day Carnival Association got a permit to parade on Eastern Parkway.

The 1930s

Carnival started in Harlem

Trinidadian Jessie Waddell started a Carnival in Harlem complete with costume parties at renowned spaces, such as the Savoy and the Audubon Ballrooms.

The 1920s

The earliest seeds were planted

The origins of West Indian Day Parade can be traced back to private pre-Lenten Carnival parties held by Caribbean immigrants in and around Harlem.