Notting Hill Carnival, which attracts two million people over two days to celebrate London’s long history of Afro-Caribbean culture, and has done for a whopping 50 years, will have a mournful element this year.
There’ll still be soundsystems and dancing and food and drinks and - definitely - toilet queues. But with the burnt-out shell of Grenfell Tower looming to the west of the traffic exclusion zone, there’s going to be a lot of respect paid to those who lost their lives, their families and those displaced by the tragic fire.
As well as a one-minute silence to be held at 3pm on the Monday, according to GetWestLondon.co.uk, the Lancaster West Estate, in which Grenfell stands, will be closed to the public. Aquiet zone for reflection and remembrance will be set up on the corner of Lancaster Road and Ladbroke Grove.
All these ideas have come from the community and been approved by the Notting Hill Carnival Enterprise Trust.
Carnival-goers are encouraged to wear green for Grenfell to show their solidarity and respect with those lost and the mourners. A community spokesperson said: ‘In the weeks following the fire, local school children decided to wear green as a sign of remembrance for their friends and family members from Grenfell. The community now wants to expand this theme to Notting Hill Carnival with the wider community of Carnival attendees following suit.
‘Members of the North Kensington community are encouraging all attendees to this year’s event to come as green as they can: green T-shirts, jumpsuits, shorts, trainers, socks, bandanas, hair, flags, hats’.
If green isn’t your colour (really?) and you’d prefer something white (for Carnival, really? With all that jerk chicken and Red Stripe to be spilling?) or red (better), you can show your support in other ways, too; Boiler Room have teamed up with Urban Image and David Hoffman to create a four-piece collection of T-shirts in support of Carnival and its message. According to Hypebeast, proceeds raised will go directly to the victims of Grenfell Tower. Which makes us feel a lot better about the colourways.
Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Police have announced a crackdown on crime ahead of Carnival. Part of this, apparently, involved a heroin raid in Catford. Carnival doesn’t seem a very heroin-y event, and Catford isn’t very close to Notting Hill. Plus, as Stormzy rightly pointed out, there’s not exactly the same stringency being applied to, say, Glastonbury, which isn’t exactly drug-free.
Find out all the details, including soundsystems and parade times for Carnival over here and here. You can also donate to help Grenfell Tower victims here.
Images courtesy of Stussy/Bolier Room/HYPEBEAST
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.