NEW YORK CITY – The 2024 West Indian American Day Parade kicks off Monday in New York City, with thousands of revelers dancing and marching down Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway in one of the largest celebrations of Caribbean culture in the world.

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The annual Labor Day event, now in its 57th year, transforms the neighborhood’s Eastern Parkway into a kaleidoscope of feathered costumes and colorful flags. Participants parade along the road past piled-high floats with loudspeakers blasting soca and reggae music.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 5: Revelers take part in the annual West Indian Day parade in Brooklyn. The parade follows the Caribbean street carnival, J’ouvert, which draws tens of thousands of costumed revelers. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Gett

The event traces its roots to the more traditional, pre-Lent Carnival celebrations started by a Trinidadian immigrant in Manhattan about a century ago, organizers said. The festivities were moved to the warmer months of the year in the 1940s.

Here’s everything you need to know about the parade, including how to get there and any street closures in the area.

West Indian Day Parade start time

The parade lasts from 11am to 6pm

Location of the West Indian Day Parade

The parade typically draws large crowds, who line the nearly 2-mile route that runs from Crown Heights to the Brooklyn Museum.

What is the West Indian Day Parade NYC 2024?

The parade consists of a competition for the best masquerade costume.

Groups of parade-goers, also known as mas bands, are judged based on the rules and regulations of Trinidad and Tobago, the birthplace of Carnival.

According to organizers, more than a million people are expected to participate in the parade and the events leading up to it.

The parade features hundreds of lavish costumes, dancers and music representing the various countries that make up the West Indies. The West Indies consists of 13 island nations and territories surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

• Anguilla
• AntiguaBarbudaMontserrat
• Aruba
• Barbados
• Bermuda
• Bonaire
• British Virgin Islands
• Cuba
• Curacao
• Dominica
• Dominican Republic
• Grenada
• Guadeloupe
• Haiti
• Jamaica
• Martinique
• Puerto Rico
• Saint Kitts and Nevis
• Saint Lucia
• Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
• Saint Martin
• The Bahamas
• Trinidad and Tobago
• Turks and Caicos Islands
• US Virgin Islands

Parking is available in the lot behind the museum, on Washington Avenue.

Women prepare to participate in the West Indian American Day Parade to celebrate Labor Day in Brooklyn, Borough of New York City on September 4, 2023. (Photo by Leonardo Munoz / AFP) (Photo by LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP via Getty Images)

During normal service, you can take Line 2/3 to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum, a wheelchair accessible station.

Transfer to 2/3 from 4/5 (at Nevins Street) and B, D, Q, N, R and LIRR (at Atlantic Terminal-Barclays Center).

NYC subway map

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• Bedford Avenue between Eastern Parkway and Empire Boulevard
• Buffalo Avenue between Eastern Parkway and East New York Avenue
• Butler Place between Grand Army Plaza and Sterling Place
• East New York Avenue between Howard Avenue and Utica Avenue
• Eastern Parkway between Howard Avenue and Grand Army Plaza
• Empire Boulevard between Flatbush Avenue and Nostrand Avenue
• Flatbush Avenue between Grand Army Plaza and Caton Avenue
• Grand Army Plaza (full circle)
• Lincoln Place between Eastern Parkway and East New York Avenue
• Nostrand Avenue between Empire Boulevard and Linden Boulevard
• Ocean Avenue between Empire Boulevard and Parkside Avenue
• Parkside Avenue between Park Circle and Flatbush Avenue
• Ralph Avenue between Eastern Parkway and East New York Avenue
• Rochester Avenue between East New York Avenue and Sterling Place
• Rockaway Parkway between East New York Avenue and Rutland Road
• St. Johns Place between Underhill Avenue and Grand Army Plaza
• Washington Avenue between Sterling Place and Lincoln Road

The Associated Press news agencies contributed to this report.