Carabram History
Conceived in 1982, Carabram Brampton's Multicultural Festival is a Not-for-Profit organization dedicated to the preservation, development and promotion of the cultural heritages of the diverse ethnic communities of Brampton and is completely run by volunteers.
It is Brampton's major event of the year, and is known Canada wide as a premier trend setting Multicultural Festival.
It is held on the second weekend of July and attracts upwards of 60,000 visitors, many from as far away as Scotland, England, Germany and the U.S.A., who plan their holidays around this great event. They come out for a fun filled gala weekend and to partake of the sights, sounds, smells and tastes that is Carabram.
The four original participants were Italy, Ukraine, Scotland and the West Indies. In the interim years it has increased in leaps and bounds to as many as 20 different Ethnic Groups, each hosting a Pavilion representing their culture and heritage through song, dance, costumes, displays, food and drink and good old "down home" country hospitality. This is not only a weekend of fun but also a weekend of learning for all ages.
Part of our goals and objectives are to provide a forum for cross-cultural exchanges between our varied ethnic groups and a sharing of friendships from around the world.
We feel the success of Carabram is partly due to the way that we have grown from the grassroots up, the quality of our product, the relative closeness of all our pavilions due to Brampton's geographic size, the loyal support of our sponsors and the hard work and dedication of all our many volunteers.
The Carabram family consists of 10 elected directors, one chairperson representing each Pavilion and 3,000 plus volunteers that help make Carabram the wonderful and successful festival that it has come to be known throughout Canada.
These volunteers work all year long preparing backdrops for the stages, cultural displays and on the weekend of the event give of themselves fully to the running of their Pavilions. Some even arrange their holidays to coincide within that weekend.
At each Pavilion you will be enthralled by the dynamic and colorful ethnic entertainment. From the sensuous Arabian Belly dancers, the beautiful Hawaiian Hula dancers to the energetic Ukrainian dancers. You can sample food to your hearts content from Perogies, Pasta, Souvlaki and Curries and wash it all down with German or English beer, Irish Guinness, Mai Tai's, Ouzo or Arak.
We provide a free bus service that will take you from one pavilion to another so that your experiences throughout your world travels may be a safe and happy one.
What better way to promote friendship and understanding than through music, song and dance. The international language of friendship and love that is understood by everyone.
In 1995 we were awarded the Y.M.C.A. World Peace Medallion for our contribution to the well being of the Brampton community. This came as a very pleasant surprise which we feel was a commendation from the public at large. What better endorsement than from those whom we serve.
Throughout the year Carabram is involved in many community events such as a mini Carabram in February for the senior citizens of Brampton, Festival of the Arts, Canada Day celebrations, The Santa Claus parade, shopping mall promotions and providing entertainment for various functions such as annual conventions.
Our 20 ethnic groups themselves are also involved in many other community activities and the funds derived from Carabram are used to promote their culture and heritage and to support local charities in the Brampton area.
Some of these activities are:
- folk dancing (3 groups have successfully competed in international competitions)
- heritage language classes
- building a church
- overseeing construction and maintenance
- computer school for junior members of a non-profit housing complex
- supporting local theater groups
- providing social functions for their own community groups
- annual university community scholarship awards
- donations to peel memorial hospital and numerous other charities.
The Countries which have been represented at Carabram are: Africa, Arabian, Canada, Caribbean, China, Croatia, Chile, England, Germany, Greece, Hawaiian, Hispanic, Holland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Macedonia, Mexico, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Ukraine.
It is our belief that we are building happy memories for the younger generation of today. Each year we just keep adding a brand new patch to the never-ending patchwork quilt of life.
You cannot help but come away from the Carabram weekend with a better understanding of our cultural differences and be a little more accepting of each other.
What better legacy to leave to the City of Brampton than to make it a friendlier and a much better place to work and live in. Surely this is a model to be shared with the rest of Canada.
