Words by Jesse Serwer, Photos by Norman Craig—
Founded in 1965 (after an earlier indoors incarnation), Notting Hill Carnival has grown from a local community event meant to stave off racial tensions in a neighborhood that was then seeing a large influx of Caribbean immigrants, into Europe’s largest street festival. Held each year on England’s August bank holiday Monday and the preceding Sunday, today it attracts upwards of one million people to th,e now-gentrified Notting Hill and surrounding North London areas like Ladbroke Grove. While putting together our guide to this year’s festivities, we couldn’t help but notice there’s some really great footage of the Carnival in eras gone by, which collectively showcase how it has grown and changed. Click through below for an audio/visual history lesson on England’s biggest party.
