Welcome to The Fluffy Carnival Gyal

In your culture you pay to see the performers. In this culture we pay to be the performers. There is no greater thrill than to perform.

-Unknown

Hi I’m La’Kesha. I am a native Baltimorean, daughter, sister, aunt, accountant and a Fluffy Carnivalist. My love for Carnival started in 2014 when I naively accepted an invitation to play mas for the 2015 carnival in Trinidad, which is the biggest show of them all. Argue with yourself I said what I said! Up to this point my knowledge of carnival was extremely limited, if not completely nonexistent. I remember a Trinidadian coworker telling me a little about going back home for carnival years ago, but I never really knew what it was about. All I knew was this was an opportunity to go to a new Caribbean island, wear a beautiful costume, dance and party. Based on that I was all in! What I didn’t know about was the culture, planning, or cost associated with carnival. If I am being completely honest the only soca song I knew prior to going was Palance. Did you hear that?  It was the collective sighs of soca junkies everywhere LOL!

I will admit my first Carnival experience was less than stellar and actually quite craptacular; that’s absolutely a word look it up on urban dictionary. I even passed out on the road around a group of strangers, fortunately they were compassionate and kind, and had to be taken to the ER. I will go into that story another time. Even with all I went through, including almost losing my life on a ferry from Trinidad to Tobago that felt like the second coming of the titanic, I knew there was beauty in this carnival experience. So I decided to try again on a smaller scale at Caribana in Toronto the next year. This time, armed with my knowledge from 2015, I was determined to make this the experience I knew It could be. I researched every aspect, joined an online community, followed many bands, baccanalists, soca artists and watched/read everything I could. And on that beautiful sunny day in 2016 when I crossed that stage I knew I was hooked foreva *Cardi B voice*.

Carnival is like a spiritual experience for me and I want to share it with as many people as possible. I firmly believe everybody should play ah mas at least once. The road does not judge you based on race, nationality, size, gender, age, class or any of the other judgments we face in daily life. It is a carefree place where we are united by our love of soca, dancing and the culture.

Come on this journey with me as I document my experiences as a Fluffy Carnivalist.