The 1999 carnival festivities will begin with a parade on Saturday, June 26, 1999. It will proceed along a three-mile stretch of Georgia Avenue, which is a highly and heavily trafficked Caribbean business corridor. The Carnival Parade will begin at 12:00 Noon. The parade will start from Missouri Avenue, NW and end at Banneker Recreation Center at Barry Place (across from the Howard University campus). On Sunday June 27, 1999, there will be a free outdoor concert, which will start at 2:00 p.m. and will feature local and international artists, steel bands, and calypso.   Carnival is. about themes, creations, colors, costumes, music and fine food from across the Caribbean. In 1998, the D.C. Carnival Parade featured 25 masquerade groups with about 3,000 masqueraders. Children and adults of all ages wore colorful costumes and represented in riotous colors, varied themes. Steel bands, live calypso/soca music, DJs, Haitian music, and African drummers provided the musical accompaniment.

More than 300,000 spectators lined the route for the parade, which lasted 6 hours. The D.C Caribbean Carnival is a colorful, educational and cultural event; it represents most of the English, Spanish, and French Caribbean and Brazilian cultures in the Metropolitan area. The event also attracts people of all ages and Africans from the Diaspora in the United States and around the world, as well as revelers and spectators from other European and ethnic groups. The event received wide media coverage from various national and local media organizations.

In addition to politicians and diplomats, the paraders came from Toronto, Jamaica, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, New York, New Jersey, Baltimore, Atlanta, Miami, and from other parts of the United States and the world

Vendors will provide a wide sampling of Caribbean cuisine and beverages for participants to choose from in the park. There will also be arts and crafts vendors providing a wide array of items at reasonable prices.

Over the years we have received limited sponsorships from corporations and donations from individuals. The D.C. Caribbean Carnival relies on sponsors for donations to help defray the cost of this extravaganza. All donations are tax deductible.

For additional information, call (202) 726-2204 or (202) 723-2242 - DCCC's FAX line.

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING LOTS OF SMILING FACES, DANCING FEET AND BRIGHT AND COLOURFUL COSTUMES