Your Rundown of What’s Happening at Notting Hill Carnival’s 60th
From J'ouvert at dawn to the 72 second silence at 3pm, here's every stage, every day and everything else that's happening across Carnival's 60th anniversary weekend.
Two million people are about to descend on eleven streets of West London for three days straight. Notting Hill Carnival turns 60 this year, running Saturday 29 August through bank holiday Monday, and it does not slow down to celebrate.
Saturday 29 August, Panorama: This is the quiet before the storm. The UK National Panorama Steel Band Competition runs at Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park, with steel orchestras (past entrants include Ebony Steelband, Mangrove Steelband and Metronomes) competing for the title. It’s the only ticketed event of the weekend.
Sunday 30 August, J’ouvert and Children’s Day: Starts absurdly early, J’ouvert kicks off around 6am near Canal Way, a pre dawn street party that’s become a cult favourite for people who want Carnival without the crowds. From 10am it’s the Official Opening Ceremony, then the Children’s Day Parade and the Dutty or “Fun Mas” procession, where paint and powder gets thrown over anyone in range. Sound systems and the live stages switch on at midday and run until 7pm sharp, the curfew is strict since this is all happening in a residential postcode.
Monday 31 August, the Adults’ Parade: As you have probably heard, this is the big one. Bands in full costume move along the three mile route from Westbourne Park through Westbourne Grove and up Ladbroke Grove from around 10.30am, alongside the same sound systems and stages running again from midday to 7pm.
Three live stages: Emslie Horniman’s Pleasance Park is the largest of the three and the one most guides lead with. Powis Square Stage, opposite the Tabernacle, is getting a new addition this year, the MAGNUM Stage, tied to a Hennessy project marking 60 years of Caribbean British music. Meanwhile Gardens runs a dedicated family stage with children’s entertainers, which is a calmer stop for anyone bringing kids.
36 static sound systems: These run independently of the stages, dotted across corners in W10 and W11 from midday to 7pm both days, each one its own self contained party with a different genre and a crowd that returns to the same spot every year.
Silence: At 3pm on both Sunday and Monday, every stage and every sound system cuts out for a 72 second silence, marking the 72 lives lost at Grenfell Tower.
Over 300 food stalls line the route, and this year’s 60th anniversary comes with an extra £4.66 million in Mayor of London funding on top of what was already committed, after two years in which the event’s future genuinely looked uncertain.
Credits:
Images courtesy of Notting Hill Carnival
Words: Roisin Teeling @roisinteeling
