St Pauls Carnival Event Update 2021

Organisers of one of Bristol’s most loved public events, St Pauls Carnival, have confirmed that the event, which traditionally takes place on the first Saturday in July, will not be going ahead in 2021.

Considered one of the city’s major events, planning for the one-day celebration of African Caribbean culture is a major undertaking and takes many months of careful planning.

Despite the government’s announcement detailing the roadmap out of lockdown where mass attendance events are likely to be allowed from 21 June it will not be feasible to run the event this year which also relies on several months of artistic preparation with the schools’ programme and community groups to create costumes and rehearse performances. Organisers will now focus on looking ahead to 2022.

The event, which is attended by over 100,000 people in the streets of St Pauls and surrounding areas, was cancelled in 2020 following consultation with Bristol City Council during the first lockdown. Despite this, organisers put on the first ever digital carnival which was attended by over 250,000 people from around the world. A team from Carnival and local volunteers also organised socially distanced food deliveries on what would have been Carnival day in 2020 to elders in the St Pauls community.

St Pauls Carnival is one of the most anticipated events in Bristol’s summer calendar and is considered one of the city’s biggest exports. 

Commenting, executive director of St Pauls Carnival LaToyah McAllister-Jones said: “Like most events, it has been a challenging year though we have also seen some fantastic and creative collaborations throughout. We are tremendously proud of launching the UK’s first digital carnival in 2020. However, it was really concerning when a 3rd lockdown was announced on 4th January 2021. We knew this would have serious repercussions on the event calendar for 2021.

“Large open access events like Carnival are not able to control the numbers that attend and without selling tickets, no way of knowing where those people come from or travel back to.

Despite the fantastic rollout of the vaccination programme, there are still public health risks that we have to take into consideration.”

“We are working with Bristol City Council and the wider events sector to understand what may be possible later in the year. However, against a backdrop of considerable uncertainty it is difficult to plan at the moment and we are very sorry that this will no doubt be a big disappointment for the community. As soon as we have clarity, we will update everyone again.

“Rest assured Carnival will return! Once restrictions have eased and we can be confident and secure in delivering carnival day alongside the community and schools’ programme we will start planning for what will be a much-needed celebration for everyone.”

Deputy lord mayor, councillor Carole Johnson, interim chair of St Pauls Carnival said: “We are hopeful that we will continue to find ways to celebrate African Caribbean culture and the significant contributions our communities have made to this city and the UK. Our focus at this time is to keep everyone safe particularly given the significant impact of COVID-19 on African Caribbean people. We will announce a date soon for a virtual community meeting where we can update people on our plans for 2021 and find out how people want to be involved.”