On Sunday, The Cold Magazine headed west for the 60th anniversary of Notting Hill Carnival. The first outdoor festival was organised by local activists Rhaune Laslett and Andre Shervington in 1966, with the intention of bringing together a neighbourhood still touched by the 1958 racist attacks on Black residents and the unsolved murder of Kelso Cochrane the following year. It has since grown into one of the world’s largest carnivals, second only to Rio. Sixty years later, Carnival is 48 hours of flaky patties and sound systems that will knock you off your feet – come rain or shine, as Sunday briefly put to the test. But the revelry indeed also makes space for remembrance: Grenfell Tower is visible from the parade route, and at 3pm on Monday, Carnival fell silent for 72 seconds, one for each life lost in the fire.
This year, Foot Locker and adidas brought a new stage to Carnival, hosted and co-curated by Tiffany Calver through her No Requests platform. Taking over the Disya Jeneration sound system, the stage joined the soca and dancehall already booming across Notting Hill as the streets filled with the smell of jerk chicken and just good ol’ vibes. Slightly wet and inebriated, we danced through the crowds with the confidence only rum can give. Here are some of the faces we met along the way.
