GALLERY: the sights of the 2012 Caribbean Carnival parade

Toronto is rich with street festivals, parades and protest marches, but a top contender for liveliest of the lot has to be the grand parade of the festival formerly known as Caribana. The 45th such spectacle had all the requisite elements: pounding dancehall, soca and steelpan music, outrageously hot weather, feathered costumes of every colour, and coconuts, sugar cane, corn and jerk chicken at the finish line. It also had Trinity-Spadina MP Olivia Chow earning some serious cred in a gold and pink beaded number, complete with iridescent wings (she danced her way down Lake Shore Boulevard rather than riding, like some other VIPs). Sure, the crowd seemed a little smaller than usual, and the security and police presence more prominent (the Toronto police sent 450 more officers this time), but Saturday’s parade still did what it does every year: remind us why we love summer in this city.

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