Boston Carnival Caribbean Festival

Boston's Caribbean Carnival returns for its 53rd year on Saturday, August 29, 2026, organized by the Caribbean American Carnival Association of Boston (CACAB) under long-time president Shirley Shillingford. The day opens with the J'Ouvert parade, staged on Morton Street near Shattuck Hospital at 5:30 a.m. — the third year at that location, after the route was moved to reduce early-morning disruption in residential neighborhoods. The afternoon procession gathers on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Roxbury from noon, with a ribbon cutting at 1 p.m. Masquerade bands, steel pan and soca then travel along Warren Street to Grove Hall and down Blue Hill Avenue, reaching Franklin Park by 6 p.m. The festival at the park — food stalls, craft vendors and music — wraps up at 7 p.m. This year's procession features a group of 25 masqueraders from Ghana and a returning group from the Dominican Republic.