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The London Notting Hill Carnival has been cancelled for the second time in a row due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The carnival is an annual event that takes place in London since the mid-1960s on the streets of the Notting Hill area of Kensington, featuring sound systems and parade bands. The event is held in August. The organizers of the event cited ‘ongoing uncertainty and risk COVID-19 poses’ as the reason why the event won’t hold this year.
An official statement on behalf of the board of the Notting Hill Carnival reads:
After lengthy consultations with our strategic partners, our Advisory Council, and individual participating bands and sound systems, the board of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, the organising body of Notting Hill Carnival, has decided that this year’s Carnival will not be on the streets due to the ongoing uncertainty and risk COVID-19 poses. This has been an incredibly difficult decision to make. Everyone involved in the event desperately wants a return to the road where Carnival belongs but safety has to come first and with the latest cautious announcement on the government’s ‘roadmap’, this is the only way to ensure that. In making this decision, we have considered our responsibilities to deliver a safe, spectacular, successful and sustainable Carnival. The conclusion is that with so much uncertainty, with time short for Carnivalists to prepare and the risk of eventual cancellation a real possibility, we must refocus our efforts for 2021.
The board also assured attendees of the 2022 carnival that they would experience the ‘greatest ever Notting Hill Carnival’.
