Carifest returns to honour late carnival legend Gerry Weekes this weekend

Calgary's Caribbean community is gearing up for the 45th annual Carifest this weekend, a three-day celebration that will honour the life and legacy of Trinidadian cultural leader and carnival innovator Gerry Weekes, who died during last year's Grand Parade.

Festivities run Friday through Sunday at Cowboys Park in downtown Calgary, with music, food, dance and the centrepiece Grand Parade on August 16 at 12:30 p.m. The parade will travel west along Stephen Avenue toward Cowboys Park. On Saturday, August 16th 2025, during the Grand Parade, Mr. Gerard "Gerry" Weeks suffered a severe heart attack. This year's final masquerade group will pay tribute to his legacy through a portrayal called "Fly High, A Tribute to Gerry Weekes."

Sabrina Nazcomanescu, a longtime volunteer with the festival, traced its roots to the 1980s. "There was a small committee back in the 1980s that had a 'lime,' which we would call in Trinidad a hangout, and then they found out there's more Caribbean people here than we realized and decided they should turn this into something," Nazcomanescu said. "In 1981, they registered as the Caribbean Community Council of Calgary, and we've been having the festival ever since." Weekes was a designer, bandleader and King of Carnival who helped grow the festivities in Trinidad and Canada. His belief in spreading Carnival culture throughout the world drives the parade's continuation. "His legacy will live on via always making sure that we have a Grand Parade," Nazcomanescu said.

De-Ann Weekes, founder of the IZWE Carnival—the organization behind this year's masquerade performers—explained the cultural roots. "Carnival started because of emancipation," she said. "We kind of started seeing the balls that our colonizers hosted, and we wanted to be a part of it but we couldn't. So, we started doing our own thing." Trinidad & Tobago's Carnival began in 1783, becoming the main site of the celebration.

This year's IZWE Carnival theme is "Echoes of Pierrot Grenade," a traditional character that embodies wittiness and storytelling. Twenty masqueraders will don colourful costumes and "backpacks" while dancing soca, their shredded fabric and masks demonstrating progression and innovation. For the performers, the parade represents months of preparation compressed into two and a half hours on the road. "Can you imagine that? All year you're prepping for two and a half hours. But in that two-and-a-half-hours, there's a transformation when you put on a costume. It makes you feel like you're a new person. It embodies joy and it embodies a person's desire," Weekes said.

Each Caribbean island brings its unique flavour to the parade. After migrating to Calgary from the Caribbean 20 years ago, De-Ann Weekes said Carifest teaches the next generation about their culture while sharing their joy with the rest of the city. "Having that experience here in Calgary, it is like bringing a part of your past home in your present home space, just a bit closer to your fellow islanders," she said. "We do Carnival to continue celebrating in our space. Sometimes we forget to be happy, and Carnival brings that joy."