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The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual event which takes place in Notting Hill, West London, England – commencing on a Saturday and ending on the night of the August Bank Holiday Monday. In 2007, it takes place from 25th to 27th August.
The Notting Hill Carnival has attracted up to 1.5 million people in some years, placing it amongst the largest street festivals in the world and probably the largest in Europe.
The format for the Carnival takes the following pattern:
Saturday – the “Panorama” takes place, a competition between steel bands mainly from the London area, but increasingly from around the UK.
Sunday – Children’s Day, with a shortened Carnival route, but with similar themes and activities as the main event adapted for children and young people.
Monday – the Main Carnival which covers a route of about 3 miles along the Great Western Road, Chepstow Road, Westbourne Grove and Ladbroke Grove.
The parade consists of lorries, trucks and floats with steel bands (often called steel pan bands or pan bands in the US) or mobile sound systems, some with huge loudspeakers. They are accompanied by costumed masqueraders and dancers, some in very exotic attire.
Along the route there are approximately 40 static sound systems and stages playing a wide range of music at high volume. The traditional Calypso, Soca, Ska and Reggae can be found alongside more modern rhythms and other music styles.
Although there have been occasional problems over the years, more recently any trouble has been localised and little more than one could expect when up to 500,000 congregate in a small area for a whole day celebrating and (naturally at party time) drinking alcohol.
The Notting Hill Carnival is seen not only as a dynamic celebration of multi-culturalism in London, but also a socially inclusive gathering, albeit dominated by Afro–Caribbean influences.
Many of the floats and dancers take their inspiration from the Brazilian Carnivals, especially Rio de Janeiro.
In 2006 the Carnival organisers estimated that 500,000 people attended on both the Sunday and Monday. Of course, with so many people attending for much of the day and staying on into the evening, there are substantial catering requirements. For many it is their first introduction to foods from a variety of cultures, especially Caribbean cooking.
The popularity of the Notting Hill Carnival has led to criticism and controversy, with the authorities wanting to move it from the narrow streets of what is essentially a small residential area to Hyde Park, where safety would be improved, policing made easier and simpler management and control systems could be implemented.
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