Items overheard on the Prospect Heights Message Boards about the West Indian-American Day Parade (Caribbean Day Parade), coming up this weekend (Labor Day weekend) on Eastern Parkway:
*NYPD have allegedly nicknamed it the “Murder Day Parade.”
*”Gun Play on the Parkway” was memorialized in Calypso songs of the 1970’s.
*Shootings and stabbings are commonplace, and most of it never makes the papers.
*It’s not a murder unless the victim dies.
*The last parade-related murder was in 2003, 2 years ago.
*In 1999, two 11-year-olds and an 18-year-old were crushed by vehicles involved in the caravan. In 2004, a 21-year-old woman got crushed but survived.
*Labor Day is the single biggest day of the year for trauma at the Kings County Hospital Emergency Department, beating out New Year’s Eve and Fourth of July.
*Many people have been going to the Caribbean Day Parade for years and have never had a problem with violence.
*Much of the violence is not random.
*It’s the only time you can ever find good corn on the cob in this damn city.
*The food is all incredible. Try the roti… Nothing like roti and a cold beer.
*It’s not the same since Giuliani banned alcohol sales (no more $1 Red Stripe truck).
*Some people bring rum punch in Gatorade bottles.
*Others like to bring a thermos full of rum to add to the pina coladas and other tropical drinks they sell.
*It’s scheduled to end at 5pm, but the fun (or madness, depending on your perspective) continues into the night.
*The website of the West Indian-American Day Carnival Association is www.wiadca.org.
This post sponsored by the the Prospect Heights Chamber of Commerce.*
*Note: Not actually sponsored by the Prospect Heights Chamber of Commerce.
More chatter:
Lock your Doors [Prospect Heights Message Boards]
When’s that West Indian Day Parade? [Prospect Heights Message Boards]
The Labor Day Parade [Prospect Heights Message Boards]
IMAGE SOURCE: RedLipstick.net