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Brooklyn was set to add another burst of red, white and black to its summer calendar this Sunday, August 30, with its first Trinidad and Tobago Independence Day Parade. Instead, the celebration has been called off just days before its planned debut after the NYPD denied organizers’ permit application.
The inaugural event was scheduled to begin at Church and Flatbush avenues at 2pm, traveling toward Prospect Park on the eve of Trinidad and Tobago’s 64th Independence Day. Organizers had planned a day of steelpan, food, music and family activities, plus a picnic, under the theme “Our Culture. Our People. Our Freedom.”
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But documents obtained by PIX11 show that the NYPD rejected the proposed route on August 20. The department said its prior experience with events using that route suggested the parade would create an unreasonable disruption to traffic, including established bus and truck routes. It also said that the required staffing would affect its ability to maintain police and emergency coverage in the surrounding area.
In the denial, the NYPD wrote that the proposed parade “would substantially and unreasonably interfere with traffic” and require resources that could compromise coverage nearby.
That explanation is likely to land with particular frustration for would-be attendees. Earlier this month, Brooklyn hosted its first Jamaica Day Parade along the same general Flatbush Avenue corridor, starting at Church Avenue and celebrating Jamaica’s own 64th year of independence. The Trinidad and Tobago event would have added another major celebration to Little Caribbean, the stretch of Brooklyn that is both a cultural touchstone and commercial hub for the city’s Caribbean diaspora.
Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from Britain on August 31, 1962. Its national holiday is marked in Port of Spain with an annual parade at Queen’s Park Savannah, combining military ceremony with music and displays of national pride. Brooklyn’s planned event was intended as a local counterpart, arriving just before the city’s much larger West Indian American Day Carnival celebrations around Labor Day.
There may still be a path forward, just not this weekend. The NYPD’s denial notes that alternate routes, dates and times could be discussed with organizers. It is not yet clear whether J’Ouvert International for Arts and Culture, which was presenting the parade, will pursue a new route or reschedule it altogether. Stay tuned!