What to know
- Blockobana returns Aug. 2 to Barbara Hall Park as Toronto Black Pride’s signature celebration during Toronto Caribbean Carnival.
- The annual event creates a dedicated space where Black, African and Caribbean 2SLGBTQIA+ people can celebrate their identities, culture and community.
- Organizer Craig Palmer says the event exists because Black and Queer identities are not mutually exclusive and deserve to be celebrated together.
- Founded in 2010, Blockobana was created as an alternative Carnival space for Queer Caribbean people who faced stigma in traditional Carnival settings.
- This year’s move to Barbara Hall Park is aimed at improving the event’s long-term financial sustainability through on-site revenue opportunities.
- Beyond providing a safer space, Blockobana intentionally centers Black Queer joy, culture and belonging, drawing thousands of attendees each year as part of Toronto Black Pride.
One of the most iconic Toronto Caribbean Carnival celebrations is returning to The Village at Church and Wellesley for another celebration of Black Queer joy.
It’s almost time to don your glitter, feathers and face gems, Toronto! Caribbean Carnival is so close you can almost taste it, and for some members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community that can only mean one thing: Blockobana.
Blockobana, an event that has become a staple of many people’s plans for Caribana weekend, is a space where 2SLGBTQIA+ members of Black, African, and Caribbean communities can celebrate every part of who they are. Taking over the entirety of Barbara Hall Park on Aug. 2, the annual event combines Caribbean music, art, and overall culture for an affair attended by thousands of people every year.
Blockobana is the sister event of Blockorama, Pride Toronto’s oldest stage. Organized by Blackness Yes!, the event series is dedicated to creating space for Black, Caribbean, and African Queer communities to connect, celebrate and enjoy a space by us, for us.
Blockobana/Blockorama organizer Craig Palmer explained that the event was created to fill a gap that still exists today.
“Being Queer and being Black and African and Caribbean are not mutually exclusive,” Palmer told Queer & Now. “It’s a place for us to show up and be our true selves.”
BLOCKOBANA: An annual celebration of Black Caribbean Queerness
Founded in 2010 as an alternative space for 2SLGBTQIA+ to celebrate Caribana weekend, Blockobana was born from the reality that many Caribbean Queer people didn’t feel comfortable being openly themselves within traditional Carnival spaces. Fast forward 16 years, and Palmer says that while things have improved over the years, the need for dedicated community spaces remains.
“These spaces create opportunities for people with shared experiences,” he explains, pointing to Queer people, refugees and newcomers who may not always feel free to express themselves elsewhere.
While Caribana may be considered a time of joy and cultural celebration, historically, a lot of people who are both Queer and Caribbean avoid mainstream Carnival celebrations in the city due to the stigma we experience in our communities. In the Caribbean, colonial-era laws criminalize homosexuality in five countries: St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica and Guyana.
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While many countries across the region have repealed such laws, stigma persists in many communities both on the islands and in the diaspora. This is why spaces like Blockobana, created by and for Black, Caribbean, and African Queer communities, are important.
“We are creating a space for us to feel free, but it’s also a space for us to celebrate with our loved ones,” Palmer explained, adding that it’s also a place designed to welcome family members, friends and allies.
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Rather than focusing solely on the exclusion that made these spaces necessary, Palmer says the event intentionally shifts the narrative toward celebration.
“You can recognize those things may exist outside, but for those few hours, you’re there with people who feel the same way you are.”
Blockobana: What to expect
As a Queer Canadian-Caribbean woman, taking the time to celebrate my culture at Blockobana feels like an act of love towards my younger self. The part of me that did not believe her Caribbean identity and Lesbian identity could co-exist has found peace at these events. Both Blockobana and Blockorama have been places where those two identities have found space to co-exist as equal parts of the woman I am today.
And I’m not alone. Those who have attended Blockobana know that the party is teeming with celebratory energy, thumping beats, glitter, and feathers while people wine up their waists and get down bad, not having to tone down their Queerness to celebrate their Blackness/Caribbeaness/Africaness. It’s a space where people can truly be themselves, and that itself can be breathtaking.
“It’s euphoric,” he says. “It’s the audience, it’s the crowd that makes Blockobana… people just being unabashed in their love for themselves, love for their community, and love for the culture.”
For Palmer, one of the event’s defining features is that it celebrates Black people as much as Black culture, something that he says does not always go hand in hand.
“I’m so happy every year to see that many people, all with the same mindset, with the same love for Caribbean culture, with the same love for Caribbean people,” he explained. “There’s a lot of people who love Black culture, but there are not a lot of people who love Black people.”
But that is not the vibe at events organized by Blackness Yes!
“That is one of the biggest things about Blockorama and Blockobana that matters to me the most is that it is Black people are also celebrated as much as the culture,” Palmer continued. “It’s something that is not easily replicated, as we’ve seen elsewhere.”
14th edition of Blockobana
This year marks the 14th Blockobana and the sixth Toronto Black Pride festival, with the event changing venues to Barbara Hall Park in 2025. Palmer explained that moving to The Village park wasn’t simply about changing venues; it was about ensuring the event’s future.
He says the previous location limited the organization’s ability to generate revenue through merchandise, food or beverage sales, leaving the event increasingly dependent on grants.
“We realized… we could not continue in a space that would not allow us to make our own revenue.”
With grant funding becoming harder to secure, sustainability has become a key priority.
“It’s mostly for sustainability, for us to be able to continue this party for years to come,” he explained.
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While Blockobana is the signature, and longest-running, event of Toronto Black Pride, the celebration itself spans multiple days. Palmer explained that he launched Toronto Black Pride in 2018 to highlight the many 2SLGBTQIA+ events already happening during Carnival weekend.
He describes Toronto Black Pride as an opportunity to put those existing celebrations “under a spotlight,” making it easier for Queer locals and people visiting the city for Carnival to discover Queer Caribbean programming.
“It’s really a way for us to center the joy of the community,” he says. “It is political, but it’s also a space for us to say we are doing all of these joyful things.”
For Palmer, the long-term impact of Black Pride and Blockobana’s lasting impact isn’t simply that it provides a safe space; it’s that, by taking up space joyfully, these events refuse to let safety be the only focus
“We are centring the joy of our community,” he says. “We are making safe spaces that are rooted in joy.”
As thousands gather once again this summer, Blockobana continues to offer something many people still need: a place where African, Black, and Caribbean Queer people can celebrate not only our culture, but ourselves.
