An annual celebration of Caribbean culture and traditions returns to Brooklyn with dancing, elaborate costumes, steel band floats and an early-morning party with calypso music.
The early-rising tradition, named “J'Ouvert,” which means dawn, began at 6 a.m. Monday along Empire Boulevard and Nostrand Avenue in Flatbush.
The parade will begin at the intersection of Empire Boulevard and Flatbush Avenue in Prospect Park and end at 11 a.m. at the intersection of Nostrand Avenue and Rutland Road.
New York Police Commissioner Jeffrey Madeley said at a parade safety press conference this week that this is the second largest parade in New York City this year.
The parade precedes the West Indies Day Carnival. Celebrating Cultural Pride It will begin at 11 a.m. in Crown Heights along Eastern Parkway between Ralph and Rochester avenues.
According to police, crosswalks will be installed at the following intersections:
- Eastern Parkway and Schenectady Avenue
- Eastern Parkway and Albany Avenue
- Eastern Parkway and Brooklyn Avenue
- Eastern Parkway and Nostrand Avenue
- Eastern Parkway and Rogers Avenue
- Eastern Parkway and Clason Avenue
The celebration will conclude at 6 p.m. at Grand Army Plaza.
Due to safety concerns and past violent incidents at the festival, attendees will be subject to “heavy police surveillance,” including screening with 300 handheld metal detectors.
Other safety measures include adding drones and security cameras and installing 260 light towers, police said.
“There's going to be a lot of safety measures that people will see and there's going to be a lot of measures that people won't see,” Madeley said.
“Public safety is best achieved when we act together.”
The most notorious case involves Carey Gabbay, a top aide to Governor Andrew Cuomo, who was shot in the head and killed in a gang shootout in Crown Heights in 2015.
The following year, two more people were shot to death: St. John's University student Tiara Poyau, 22, who was shot in the eye, and Tyreek Borrell, 17, who was shot in the chest.
Last year, at least two people were shot along the route of the West Indies Day Carnival parade and a third was slashed in the arm, but the Jaubert parade was spared any bloodshed.
“The overall goal is to have a safe and enjoyable event, and we are going to work hard to make sure that happens,” said Deputy Chief Scott Henderson of the NYPD's Brooklyn North Patrol District.
“We've looked at everything that happened last year. There were a few incidents where people got involved in a little bit of violence,” Madeley said. “We're trying to make adjustments and understand if anything that happened last year could impact this year.”
