Eye-popping outfits. Great music. A celebration like no other. We’re not talking about Deco. We’re talking about the annual Miami Broward Carnival! The big parade is going down this Sunday at Miami-Dade County Fairgrounds. We’ve got a preview of the event, and the most important part: The costumes.
The Caribbean is coming to South Florida this weekend. Miami Broward Carnival is back!
Asa Sealy, CEO, Branding Shop: “It’s a celebration of cultures. It’s a celebration of community. With such a diverse community that we have in Miami, you have across the region so much representation on this one weekend.”
Representation of nations like Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti and the Bahamas.
And get this, it’s the parade’s 35th anniversary!
Asa Sealy: “It’s more of an institution than a tradition. It’s a day you can come out and enjoy color, pageantry, family, music, culture, food.”
And we can’t talk about carnival without discussing the costumes. Absolutely spectacular.
New to carnival is one of the designers, Lila Nikole Rivera. We met up at Nöire Arts Lounge in Little Haiti.
Lila Rivera, costume designer: “My overall job is just to make sure everything in my section is put together, designed, packaged and given to the girls as an incredible costume and an incredible experience.”
Lila is known for her stylish swimwear, and she’s bringing that expertise to her carnival costumes.
Lila Rivera: “We kind of meshed them together and created a beautiful bond between the two of them, so the pieces that you would see underneath is something you might purchase from our company — custom designed and embellished a thousand times over.”
Shhh. Don’t tell anyone, but you might spot these costumes if you go out to Carnival this weekend. Work it, ladies!
Lila Rivera: “There’s a popular catchphrase: Carnival is woman, so the costumes are everything. I think everybody has their own identity, and it’s a way of expressing it through color and through whatever your feel is.”
And you’ll be feeling all kinds of tropical at the parade this weekend.
Asa Sealy: “Anything Caribbean, you expect flavor, and on this one day, you’re going to get the culmination of all these flavors coming together.”
FOR MORE INFO:
Miami Broward Carnival
Miami-Dade County Fair & Exposition
10901 SW 24th St.
Miami, FL 33165
305-223-7060
miamicarnival.org/
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