Carnival on the News

Greg Mckenzie with BBC News ventures down to the streets where the Notting Hill Carnival is taking place and speaks with one of the directors of the carnival Louis Ben who has a major hand in organizing this grand event. They recognize that it is a celebration of Caribbean culture and Ben mentions that putting together the carnival is an “all-year round event,” it doesn’t just happen over night. There’s a lot of hard work that goes into preparing for this one weekend of the year.

In this newscast, we’re in the midst of the carnival of 2014 where, despite the rainy weather, over a million people have come out to celebrate and join in the festivities of carnival. In Ben’s interview he mentions that 2014 is the celebration of 50 years of the steel pan bands being in London; however, the carnival itself has only, at this point, been a tradition in Notting Hill for 48 years. Ben says that in the next couple of years they will be celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the carnival “as we know it,” which began in 1966.

As the story closes out, Mckenzie is asked what people who have never been to the Notting Hill Carnival have to do if they attend, and he responds with three things: dance, “blow the whistles,” join in and have fun.

It is interesting to see how celebrated the Notting Hill Carnival is still today. I had no idea how big of a deal it was to those in London and Trinidad until digging up research on the carnival itself. In fact, I was never even aware that such a carnival existed until this year, which is why I think newscasts, stories, and interviews such as these are important for letting other cultures know what's happening and what will continue to be a tradition in this part of the world.