It’s no longer Caribana: Festival unveils its new name

25 May 2011 No Comments

July 31, 2010 Caribana revelers enjoy the 43rd annual parade along Lake Shore Blvd. Toronto Star/Andrew Wallace

Henry Stancu
Staff Reporter

Caribana, the celebration of Caribbean culture that brings more than a million people to the streets of Toronto each summer, has a new name.

The festival will now be known as the Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto, organizers announced Wednesday.

The name change, ordered earlier this month by the Ontario Superior Court, is the latest in a long-running battle over the massively popular festival.

The name “Caribana” is trademarked by the Caribana Arts Group (CAG), the successor of the Caribbean Cultural Committee (CCC), which founded the festival in 1967 but lost control in 2006.

That’s when the city and province cut funding after organizers failed to produce adequate financial statements. Control was transferred to the newly created Festival Management Committee (FMC).

After the transfer, the festival was officially called the Toronto Caribbean Carnival.

The FMC has said nothing but Caribana’s name will change, much to the consternation of the CAG, which claims the festival itself is the group’s intellectual property. The group’s chair, Henry Gomez, said they’re prepared to go to court again unless FMC acknowledges CAG’s ownership.

In 2009, the festival attracted 1.2 million people, including 300,000 from outside the country, and helped fill 85 per cent of Toronto’s hotel rooms. That year, the festival generated $483 million for the provincial economy.

But last year, an expected $600,000 in federal and provincial grants didn’t come through. The festival’s budget decreased from $2.6 million to $1.8 million.

originally published on thestar.com