Hurrah – it’s a bank holiday! And better yet – it’s the Leeds Carnival!
While not as well known as the Notting Hill carnival in London (and this is a West Indian carnival as opposed to a Carribean one), it’s equally as impressive, and better yet it doesn’t involve a 400 mile round trip to see it.
It’s been taking place since 1967, and was the first West Indian carnival in Europe.
While celebrations will be taking place all weekend, the main event is the carnival procession on bank holiday Monday. Hundreds of beautifully costumed dancers, bands, floats and sound systems gyrate their way around a procession route in Chapeltown, starting and finishing at Potternewton Park. The procession starts at 2pm, and you’d do well to get there in advance – the place is busy (last year over 150,000 people attended!)
After the procession, the focus changes to the stage in Potternewton Park, and the vast array of food stalls selling all manner of West Indian food (the jerk chicken with rice’n’peas I had last year was very tasty!)
I’m really looking forward to this year’s procession – last year was the first time I’d been, and we had such a great day (I even bumped into a friend from university – he was part of the procession in an impressive costume!) – I’ll post some more photos from this year after the event.
Want to see more? There’s plenty more photos on my flickr pages.
When not working for digital agency AWA, Rick Harrison is a Freelance photographer based in Leeds.
He’s had work published in many magazines and on TV. For more details check out his portfolio.
Some nice atmospheric shots in here. If you’re coming this year, don’t forget the steel band [Foxwood Steel Bandits with some Leeds Silver Doves, Steel Rising and South Steel], main stage while the procession processes.