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Philly Carnival usually takes place on Father’s Day; however, this year the official Philly Carnival website did not have any updates and still showed the date for 2004. I decided to contact them to inquire about the 2005 event, curious to see what this was all about. Being from Cologne, Germany, where Carnival is a major event each year... well it's quite different from Trini Carnival, but still great if you ever want to go! ;-)

I was told that there was a problem with the Philly Carnival for 2005 but that they had a cooler party in Fairmount Park. I had to miss that event but a couple weeks later I received an e-mail that the Philly carnival was indeed a go!

So we made it down to South Street on a hot Sunday afternoon. With the TJJ boys running on Trini time, I was afraid to miss the whole show. But magically we made it just in time to see the parade -- I guess they were operating on Caribbean time as well. There were just a few trucks with some masqueraders in great colorful costumes and one steel band on a truck providing the rhythm that had everyone moving to the beat. Unfortunately, the truck broke down along the way but it did not matter because everyone along the sidelines of the parade had a really great time, including Spiderman on stilts!

It took a little longer for everyone to reach the stage on 2nd and South, where the party really got started. Everyone was going crazy dancing in the streets to the familiar carnival rhythms blaring from the speakers all over South Street. Of course there were many vendors cooking up a storm of Caribbean favorites, which helped keep the energy level up. All in all, it was a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

by Ines Juchem