CaribMask Raleigh/Durham Carnival

Headed to Raleigh/Durham for their 3^rd annual CaribMask carnival.  I gotta hand it to them, for only being their 3^rd year, they really had their sh*t together.  They had a good selection of bands and a very large crowd of on lookers who you can clearly tell are excited about having a carnival in their city.   

It was a random weekend were I didn’t have anything on my calendar.  My brother lives half way to Raleigh, so I drove to his place and then he drove the rest of the way.  We linked up with our Atlanta band www.maddcolorscarnival.com so we didn’t have to buy a costume.  The hotel suite was only $80/night & we only stayed two nights.  The clubs were dirt cheap, so the trip was basically free.  The best part was getting to satisfy my carnival addiction, if you have read any of my other carnival blogs you know my carnival addiction is bad bad bad!!!  

Mr. & Mrs. Madd Colors

Their son is a hot dayym good DJ

Baby Madd Colors

Some (but not all) of the other mas bands on the road for www.caribmask.com can be seen below. In only 3 years they have managed to put together a nice line up. 

If you can’t tell by all the pix below, the Haitian troupe was my absolute favorite.  They have a folk dress that is very similar to the Pollera folk dresses worn in my home country of Panama.  According to Google it is called a Quadrille dress (please forgive me if I’m incorrect).  I was instantly in love when I saw them.  There is a very, very, very slight chance that we will skip Trinidad carnival 2015 and go to Panama instead (same dates) and if we do, you best believe that I will be wearing a beautiful folk dress.       

As I looked through the pix I couldn’t help but notice how mesmerized the crowd was by the parade.   People proud of their culture and glad to have a little piece of home right here in the USA.

The new owner of my feather backpack

After the road march, people from each country came on stage and rep’d their flag.  You know who Turnt Up and Turnt Out… sweet sweet TnT

I want to give a shout out to the photographer extraordinaire Paco for taking all the pix.  It was nice getting to dance & drink the day away and not be on camera duty.

 

Below is just a few pix from the nightlife.  We had good friends, Bose speaker, and lots of rum so of course we had a blast. 

If you are located somewhere nearby and a pricey flight is not a factor for you, I would definitely recommend checking out CaribMask Raleigh/Durham Carnival in 2015.