Thousands flock to city for independence festival

Oprah Flash

BBC News, West Midlands

12 August 2024

Image source, Marcia Pinnock
Image caption,
Thousands of people flocked to the city centre for all three days of the festival.
Image source, Denise Campbell
Image caption,
The event was held to mark Jamaica's 62nd year of independence.
Image source, Denise Campbell
Image caption,
A number of stalls lined Victoria Square in Birmingham.
Image source, Marcia Pinnock
Image caption,
As well as a number of food stalls, there were an array of entertainers performing.
Image source, Marcia Pinnock
Image caption,
The weather stayed bright and warm for the event.

Thousands of people have flocked to Birmingham city centre to celebrate Jamaican Independence Day.

The three-day Jamaica 0121 Festival saw Victoria Square being transformed from Friday with an array of food stalls, entertainers and workshops.

Hosted by the Noir Rose Group, organisers said the free event attracted families from across the UK.

Denise Campbell, who attended the festival on Sunday, said: "For me they don’t recognise this day in Liverpool so I was happy to come out and celebrate with my people."

The photo shows Kristina Gordon, windrush carnival queen as well as windrush carnival first runner up Sarafina Mitchell and second runner up Keyoni Lawrence

Denise Campbell

The winner of this year's Windrush Carnival, Kristina Gordon (left), also took part in the celebrations along with the carnival's two runners up, Keyoni Lawrence (centre) and Sarafina Mitchell

Independence Day is a national holiday in Jamaica which commemorates 6 August 1962, the day the country gained independence from the United Kingdom.

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Thousands flock to city for independence festival

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