Notting Hill Carnival: What is it and when does it take place?

Notting Hill Carnival is a huge street festival that takes place in London every year.

It's all about celebrating Caribbean heritage, arts and culture - including music, food and dancing.

2023 marks the 55th year the carnival has been running, making it one of the longest running street parties in the world.

It always takes place on the August Banks Holiday Weekend which this year in on Saturday 26 August to Monday 28 August.

When and why did the Notting Hill Carnival start?

The first festival was in 1966 and it was put on by Rhaune Laslett.

Rhaune, who lived in Notting Hill with her mum and dad, wanted to highlight and celebrate the diversity in her area by putting on a festival.

It's got bigger and bigger since then. Organisers today say it's the second biggest carnival in the world, and the biggest one in Europe!

What happens at Notting Hill Carnival?

Check out this colourful costume!

It's loud, colourful and vibrant!

There's plenty of dancing, singing and processions that take place through the streets.

People spend months working on their colourful festival costumes, and then show them off in the huge parade.

There's all kind of music for crowds to enjoy to - including steel bands, reggae and salsa artists.

And there's a lot of traditional food to choose from. There are around 240 food stalls selling things like curried goat, roti and jerk chicken. Yum!

Notting Hill Carnival in numbers

It's thought that around 50 people went to the first festival - now around 2 million people attend!

There are approximately 40 static sound systems, ten steel pan bands and 70 performing stages.

There are roughly 15,000 costumes on display every year...and every single one is made by hand. It takes around 1 million hours to make and decorate them all!