PalQ

I always wanted to go to London's Notting Hill Carnival, as i love popular festivals and this one seemed to be one of the largest ones around. Though the festival had its pluses, especially in the joie-de-vivre of London's Black community, to me it attracted too many people in too small and too confined areas. I visited in 2003, during the heat wave summer. I first tried to board a bus on Oxford Street to get to the festival area, but after several buses came by unfathomably packed,i bagged the bus and decided to hike through Hyde Park to the site - the in-vogue Notting Hill district of London about a mile west of Hyde Park Corner. Huge crowds were streaming in and i follow the surge until i could see the first of many floats - on flat bed trucks go by - each float had a steel band on it and brightly dressed dancers, many with Mardi Gras-type costumes. But as i further ventured in it became very congested and the police had put up barriers with only small gates to cross the parade route at a few points. I felt trapped and the further i got in the less sure i was how i could get out - i kept coming to police blockades - i was trying to get through and out the north, towards Paddington but kept running into barriers - often with a crush of other people. A parade of street vendors selling Carribean foods, pop, etc. and mountains of litter - beer cans all over further caused congestion. Well i finally got out but never really did get a relaxed view of the floats and steel bands on the trucks. Newspaper accounts the next day blamed the police blockades for the congestion - apparently after years of sporadic violence the coppers perhaps over-reacted. But i finally escaped and then took a long walk to get around the whole area and back to the south where i had started. I hiked all the way thru Wormwood Scrubbs, going by the notorious prison and by the ruins of Tent City to East Acton, where i boarded a bus that went back right into the confusion of the carnival and became hopelessly overcrowded! Anyway, it was a great experience if not all that comfortable.
Have you experienced the Notting Hill Carnie and what did you think?

PalQ

When compiling a list of festivals for a European travel mag i once wrote, i called the British Tourist Authority and asked for their list of festivals. when i got it the Notting Hill Carnie was not on it - i called back, asking for the dates and the BTA staffer said she didn't know and that the carnie wasn't listed "because it's a purely ethnic festival"!!! Now this reply said lots about something - isn't the Edinburgh Tatto and Highland Games also purely 'ethnic' festivals???

cocofromdijon

Thank you for sharing Pal, I spent 2 years in London and everytime I missed it because I was working :'(

walkinaround

yep, i've been there three times.

it is very crowded, you can be restricted in getting around. i agree with just about everything you say.

the carnival is pretty mainstream and enjoyed by all (except perhaps most of the residents of notting hill). therefore, i don't consider it an ethnic only festival.

i don't know what will happen with it...I imagine at some point, it will just be too big to host in its current format/location.

Patrick

Maybe I've just become an old fuddy-duddy, but you've confirmed my feelings about most "festivals". I suppose if you have an overwhelming desire to attend a certain function, such festivals can be fun, but for the most part my experience has been that such events are such crowded masses of humanity, that any value as an ethnic or cultural experience is far outweighed by the misery of the crowds and the logistics. I similarly have now come to avoid most other cultural festivals as well, because booking hotels that have double or tripled the rates for the event, trying to get around in overcrowded public transportation, or just dealing with the crowds for the events as well as the overtaxed restaurants and other services, make the event far less enjoyable than visiting the same destination when no such event is taking place.

Barbara

Highland Games may have started out being exclusivly a Scottish event, but now you will find them in many countries around the world now, including the US.

The Edinburgh Tattoo is not and never has been "ethnic". It has always been a military event and in that respect is similar to the many military displays put on in the US every year..think "air shows". The difference between them and the Tattoo is that the Tattoo has always featured many performers from outside Scotland and the UK. Even the US Marines have appeared at the Tattoo.

walkinaround

patrick,

in london, notting hill carnival is known above all as a street party rather than a cultural event.

with the huge crowds, you get all types and there certainly is culture (beautiful costumes, music, etc) and there are family orientated aspects...but when it comes down to it, it is a street party and nobody tries to make it more than that.

PalQ

Don't get me wrong - i reveled in the fact that thousands of folks were coming together as a street party centered around Carribean culture - i love the idea and that at least that year there was no violence - most folks seemed to be having a good time. Just that i didn't feel comfortable with the extreme congestion - if i had known better i'd have come in from the north where the crowds were less and you could actually see the floats without a crush of humanity. I think the carnie is great!