The Labor Day weekend brings with it one of the greatest displays of Caribbean culture in New York City.

“All the different countries,” said paradegoer, Janine Costley, whose family is from St. Kitts. “It’s really a celebration of Black history.”

While the J’Ouvert street festival and the West Indian Day Parade are both on Labor Day, there a number of New York City carnival festivities leading up to Monday.

The festivities include a kick off celebration Thursday night with live performances by artists at the Brooklyn Museum; followed by Socafest on Friday; the Junior Carnival Parade, YouthFest and PANORAMA Steelband Competition on Saturday; and a Labor Day Soirée on Sunday.

For New Yorkers with Caribbean roots like Costley, the weekend of activities is also about learning more about one’s heritage.

“Brooklyn has such great roots in Caribbean history,” she said.

“I’m just trying to get to know more about my culture,” said Sam Smith, whose family is from Guyana. “Because I don’t want to read it in a book I want hands on, seeing myself and stuff like that.”

Yvette Rennie, head of the J’Ouvert City International, said that’s what the festival is about.

“You must understand your culture to know where you are going, where you come from, what happened throughout the Caribbean,” she said.

As always, J’Ouvert will proceed the West Indian Day Parade, but it will begin early in the morning at 6 a.m. and conclude at 11 a.m.

Once an all-night affair, violent incidents over the years forced organizers to cut the hours.

It’s been five years since Carey Gabay, an attorney and former aid to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, was struck in the head and killed by stray bullets fired during J’Ouvert.

“There are 13 entrance points into the J’Ouvert parade and everybody who does participate and attends is subject to search,” said NYPD Chief Charlie Mcavoy, commanding officer of patrol borough Brooklyn south.

NYPD officials said revealers can expect road closures Sunday night along the J’Ouvert parade route.

Flatbush Avenue from Grand Army Plaza to Empire Boulevard will be shut down, along with Empire Boulevard from Flatbush Avenue to Nostrand Avenue.

The cross streets in the immediate vicinity of the West Indian Day Parade route along Eastern Parkway from Portal Street to Flatbush Avenue will also have closures.

Law enforcement officials said they’re working with organizers of both events to enforce a fun, safe time is had by all.

“The NYPD will have thousands of officers working throughout the weekend from all of our bureaus. Patrol bureau, detective bureau, community affairs, intelligence, counterterrorism and many more,” said NYPD Chief of Patrol John Schell.

“We always traditionally work with private security firms,” said Cecile Ford, secretary of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association Board. “We have bumped it up, beefed it up this year because we really want to ensure that there’s adequate security.”

Ford also said everyone along the parade route on Eastern Parkway will have wristbands, showing that they’ve gone through security.  

Paradegoers, like Costley, said they can feel a stronger police presence and security presence in recent years. They just hope the emphasis on safety doesn’t take away from the events themselves.

“It was Brooklyn, I didn’t feel so unsafe before,” Costley said. “Now it just feels so policed. But I’ll have a good time, regardless.”

NYPD officials said last year was one of their safest and most successful Labor Day weekends on record and they hope to have a similar outcome this year.

Meanwhile, this is the second year the festivities are back in-person following the pandemic.