Mr. Terry shared his thoughts with us::
This journey all started for me in 1970 on Yonge street with the Caribana parade and as a teen, I was hooked, and within a few years in the seventies, I was helping the late Ken Sha with building costumes in his back yard in Toronto and was the voice of the Caribbean on radio covering events in the K.W. area.
In the Eighties, I was honoured to be part of the broadcast crew for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation to cover the Caribana parade on University ave, I can honestly say that era was the best Television coverage that the parade ever received. On the C.B.C. network, we had live coverage from coast to coast and on Sunday we showed the parade again for two hours, which was an edited version so it was exciting and alive. when we were finished with the broadcast I would be in the bands to assist with my marshal duties for the parade, and I did it because it was a proud day for us all. I also had the opportunity to Broadcast in Trinidad for a number of years as the color commentator for the Carnival on the radio.
In the nineties, I was honoured to be asked to be on the Judging pool that position was to judge the children’s carnival, the king and queen of the bands, and the parade of the bands which is On the lakeshore. This location has a Caribbean flair to it, being close to the water is heavenly.
Judging the different venues is indeed a pleasure but watching the children having fun as well as displaying their costumes make us realize that our legacy is intact.
I must thank the visionaries of the Parade who made many sacrifices in 1967 to create this masterpiece in our community, I tip my hat to them for their vision, I hope that this cultural presentation must not be lost and may it continue so that others can enjoy this art form.
The opportunity to work with all these wonderful artists on different platforms and watching the changing landscape both with the technology and the people is so Oh inspiring. As I enter the winter of my life with a new crop of a young artists in the High definition domain it is lovely to be a part of this.
Edwin Terry
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