West Indian American Day Parade & J'Ouvert

NYC's largest cultural celebration and one of the world's biggest Caribbean carnivals, drawing 1–3 million attendees. Organized by the West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA). Soca, calypso, reggae, steel pan, compas from Trinidad, Jamaica, Haiti, Barbados, Guyana, and beyond. A full week of pre-parade fetes and concerts leads up to Labor Day. J'Ouvert is the pre-dawn emancipation-tradition procession of mud, oil, powder, and steel bands.