With Carimas over, All roads lead to Ottawa’s Carivibe

Now that Montreal’s 2024 Carimas is over, on to the next one! See you on the weekend of July 19th at Ottawa’s Carivibe. Before that, a quick review of Carimas. Every Carnival starts somewhere, and we should help make Carimas embrace its journey. This year
marked our 50th year of Caribbean carnival in our city, thanks to Montreal CARIMAS team The Caribbean Coalition Network of Montreal, (CCNM).
There were five components to the Montreal Carimas Festival: two pageants for pre- teens, teenage girls, and young adults, a kiddie junior carnival (Petit Carimas), the grand street parade, and the cool down and show in the park (Carimas Sizzle). I can only speak on the two events I attended. One was the grand street parade, in which I was invited by TNT-ONE MONTREAL INC to be a part of their band. And the other was the Carimas Sizzle, as I was asked by international artist Eddie Charles to DJ for him during his set. To make a long story short the Carimas organizers encountered many hiccups during these events. Some are due to some city regulations while others can be considered self-sabotage or growing pains. It is worth noting that this is their first time and I want to give them the benefit of the doubt. I hope they regroup, self-evaluate and come back wiser and stronger for 2025!
Now on to Ottawa (CARIIVIBE) Cari = Caribbean, Vibe = feels good. They have been Celebrating Caribbean culture in our Nation’s Capital for a little over 20 years!
Legendary Ottawa DJ Trevor Mason is the President of Carivibe. It’s bound to be an
unforgettable Caribbean Festival taking place in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, featuring the
very best in Tropical Cuisine, Tropical Drinks, Tropical Ice Cream & Caribbean Comedy.
All mixed with sweet Soca, Dancehall, Reggae and Afro VIBES. Enjoy 3 days of Non-
stop Caribbean entertainment!