West Indian Day Parade and J'Ouvert in Brooklyn: What you need to know for 2025

It’s almost Labor Day weekend — which in Brooklyn means it’s time for the West Indian Day Parade.

Since 1969, the celebration of Caribbean culture has annually transformed Eastern Parkway into a moving festival of colorfully and sensually costumed masqueraders and stunningly decorated floats carrying carnival bands through the streets, many of which will be closed for the occasion.

“There’s no other rush than Labor Day Monday, at least for me,” said Curtis Nelson, executive director of parade costume-maker and community group Sesame Flyers International. “The music, the food, the excitement, the freedom that our costumed folks feel when they put on these wonderful costumes and are able to express themselves. … I’m just lost for words.”

This year’s parade, themed “Vive le Carnival,” will take place on Monday, Sept. 1 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., heading west along Eastern Parkway from Utica Avenue to Grand Army Plaza.

The main event is the grand finale to a multiday celebration called NY Carnival Week, which includes the nearly sold-out Soca Fest Music Festival on Friday; Panorama, a now sold-out steelpan drum competition on Saturday; Junior Carnival, a day of family-friendly live performances, youth activities and a back-to-school giveaway on Saturday; and the Ultimate Fete, a rum and music celebration on Sunday. All take place at the Brooklyn Museum and, unlike the main event, are ticketed.

There’s also J’Ouvert, the early-morning celebration that takes place from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. ahead of the big parade.

Violence around J'Ouvert and the West Indian Parade has somewhat marred the events' reputation. Mayor Eric Adams last year stressed after a nearby shooting that aside from that incident “you got hundreds of thousands of people that were out this weekend and really heard the call of a peaceful J’Ouvert and a peaceful West Indian Day parade.”

The parade regularly attracts well over a million people, and is widely considered North America's largest Caribbean carnival.

In recent years, the parade has become more corporate, with fewer costumed revelers and more sponsored floats, said Nelson, who is a band leader in the parade.

“That does change the dynamics, and does take away, in my opinion, from the pageantry,” he said. But he hopes that this year the parade can begin shifting back.

“We want to bring back that wonderful presence of full costumes on the road,” he said, “so that we can return to the splendor of hundreds of folks in costumes, displaying and experiencing Labor Day once again.”

The West Indian American Day Carnival Association, which organizes the parade, didn't return messages seeking comment this week.

Some bandleaders have previously told Gothamist that competition at the parade among participants has become intense even as costs rise and many longtime participants pull out. They described the difficulty of recouping costs for elaborate costumes, food, material and advertising.

Nelson said he hopes the parade’s numbers will continue to grow and encourage a spectacle that celebrates his cultural heritage “with feathers and dance routines and the exuberance of the music.” And he’s looking forward to a the moment when he turns the corner on Buffalo Avenue and Eastern Parkway this Monday “with all our things in place, our dancers, our costumes, our music trucks, and our food and refreshments, our entertainers, our DJs – it does take quite an operation to put together – and that’s the moment that I make a sigh of relief and say, ‘Wow, we made it.’”