For two years, Labor Day and the weeks leading up to it have been unusually quiet in Brooklyn. There was no early morning J’Ouvert procession on Empire Boulevard, nor on Nostrand Avenue; no iconic West Indian Day parade down Eastern Parkway.
READ MORE: Flatbush residents are cautiously optimistic about the return of the West Indian Day Parade after a two-year hiatus
The Labor Day Carnival — which includes J’Ouvert and the West Indian Day Parade, as well as a number of other festivities and pageants that take place primarily in Brooklyn — was canceled in both 2020 and 2021 due to the dangers health related to large gatherings during the throes of the pandemic.
But with restrictions loosened this year, the large-scale, multi-Caribbean celebration is back in full force, with a new generation eager to keep pace with the more seasoned revelers. Allen M. Pierre, a Haitian-born photographer living in Brooklyn, photographed the many scenes that make up the Labor Day carnival for Gothamist.
Check out a selection below as well as the full gallery above.
