The Rise of Canboulay New York 2013–2015 | More Paint, More Powder, More Mud, More Soca
Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson in the middle of the action while hosting Julianspromos coverage of Canboulay New York 2013 at Pulse 48 Yard in Brooklyn.
On Saturday, June 1, 2013, Canboulay brought its early-morning paint-fete experience to Pulse 48 Yard in Brooklyn. Presented by Gorgelicious Promotions and Hyper Active Entertainment, the event was advertised from 5 AM to 11 AM with a message that would remain closely associated with Canboulay:
More paint. More powder. More mud. More Soca. More drinks. More vybez.
Julianspromos documented that 2013 edition through video and an extensive photo gallery, with Sheniele “Vivaa” Dodson hosting and Julian C. Hackett shooting and editing the footage. Within the next two years, Canboulay would move beyond one Brooklyn venue into Miami Carnival and Barbados Crop Over, experience a dramatic sold-out New York edition in 2014, and return for one final New York chapter in 2015. The surviving Julianspromos archive preserves that progression across multiple cities and Carnival markets.
A Name With Deep Carnival History
The name Canboulay reaches much further back than the New York event.
Trinidad and Tobago’s National Library and Information System Authority traces the term to Cannes Brûlées, or “burnt cane.” After Emancipation, formerly enslaved Africans transformed the tradition into an expression of freedom involving masking, dancing, stickfighting, music and procession. Canboulay became an important part of the development of Trinidad Carnival.
The New York Canboulay documented here was not a historical reenactment. It was a modern Caribbean paint-and-Soca fete. But its name drew from a much older Carnival tradition associated with freedom, street celebration and the cultural history that helped shape J’Ouvert.
2013: Canboulay Takes Over Pulse 48 Yard
The surviving Julianspromos Canboulay story begins on June 1, 2013.
The original event artwork names Pulse 48 Yard as the venue and advertises the fete from 5 AM until 11 AM, presented by Gorgelicious Promotions and Hyper Active Entertainment.
The flyer also establishes the event’s core language:
More paint. More powder. More mud. More Soca. More drinks. More vybez.
The surviving video and photographs show paint and powder becoming a defining part of Canboulay’s visual identity. Patrons fill the yard in color while Vivaa moves through the event as Julianspromos host.
Julian C. Hackett shot and edited the footage.
Canboulay New York 2013 — June 1 at Pulse 48 Yard, presented by Gorgelicious Promotions and Hyper Active Entertainment.
Watch Canboulay New York 2013
The original Julianspromos video was uploaded on June 2, 2013, one day after the event.
Canboulay New York 2013 in Photos
Video was only one part of the coverage.
Julianspromos also preserved an extensive Canboulay New York 2013 photo gallery, creating a much broader visual record of the event. The photographs document the crowd, personalities, fashion, paint and atmosphere surrounding the fete. The gallery photography is credited to Daniel Simon of Hugh Morris Photography.
Photography: Daniel Simon / Hugh Morris Photography.
Canboulay did not remain confined to Brooklyn for long.
Only a few months later, the name appeared in another major Caribbean Carnival market.
2013: Canboulay Goes to Miami Carnival
On October 12, 2013, Julianspromos documented Canboulay’s Savages of Dawn during Miami Carnival J’Ouvert.
The move extended the Canboulay story beyond New York and placed the name inside one of the largest Caribbean Carnival weekends in the United States.
Vivaa again hosted the coverage, bringing viewers into the paint, music and road experience surrounding Canboulay during Miami J’Ouvert. The surviving Julianspromos archive confirms that the Canboulay story had expanded from New York into Miami within the same year.
Photos from Canboulay at Miami Carnival J’Ouvert 2013
The surviving images place Canboulay in a very different setting — on the road during Miami Carnival, surrounded by paint, music and J’Ouvert.
Brooklyn established Canboulay’s New York identity.
Miami showed that the name could travel.
2014: Canboulay Sells Out — Then Loses Its Venue
By 2014, demand for Canboulay in New York had grown dramatically.
The next edition was originally scheduled for Saturday, June 7, 2014 at Soca Village, 5601 Preston Court in Brooklyn. Gorgelicious Entertainment and Hyper Active Entertainment again promoted the familiar early-morning formula of paint, powder, mud, Soca, drinks and vibes.
But the event never unfolded according to the original flyer.
More than 5,000 tickets had been sold, and patrons had flown into New York from around the world specifically to attend Canboulay.
Then, only one day before the event was scheduled to take place, the organizers lost the Soca Village venue.
Thousands of ticket holders — including international visitors who had already traveled to New York — were suddenly attached to a sold-out event without a location.
A last-minute solution was found at Pulse 48, bringing Canboulay back to the venue connected to its 2013 New York edition.
But moving an event of that size on such short notice created another problem.
The replacement venue could not comfortably accommodate the sold-out crowd. With overcrowding and capacity becoming an issue, the NYPD ultimately shut the event down.
For patrons who had flown internationally specifically for Canboulay, the disappointment was especially significant. They had made the trip to New York for an event that survived the loss of one venue only to encounter another major problem after relocating.
For Canboulay itself, the situation also revealed just how much demand had grown in a single year.
A fete first documented by Julianspromos at Pulse 48 in 2013 had returned with more than 5,000 ticket buyers only one summer later.
The original Canboulay 2014 flyer advertised Soca Village. The venue was lost the day before the event, forcing organizers to relocate the sold-out fete to Pulse 48.
Watch Canboulay New York 2014
Despite the disruption, surviving Julianspromos footage preserves part of the relocated edition.
Vivaa hosted the coverage, while Julian C. Hackett shot and edited the footage.
The surviving video was uploaded on June 9, 2014.
Photos from Canboulay New York 2014
The existing Julianspromos gallery preserves a visual record of an edition whose plans changed dramatically at the last moment.
The New York problems did not end Canboulay’s momentum.
Within weeks, contemporary Caribbean coverage was using the event’s reputation in New York and Miami to introduce Canboulay to another country.
What happened in New York did not end Canboulay’s momentum.
Only weeks later, contemporary Caribbean coverage was using the event’s reputation in New York and Miami to introduce Canboulay to another country.
2014: “Wildly Successful” in New York and Miami
In July 2014, Caribbean event site LehWeGo announced Canboulay’s upcoming Barbados debut and described the event as already “wildly successful” in New York and Miami.
That contemporary description is important because it captures Canboulay’s reputation while the expansion was actually happening.
Despite the difficulties surrounding the New York edition, Canboulay was still being presented as a Caribbean event brand with momentum across multiple markets.
2014: Canboulay Reaches Barbados Crop Over
On Friday, August 1, 2014, Gorgelicious Entertainment and OneIsland Entertainment brought Canboulay to Copa Beach in Barbados during Crop Over.
Contemporary promotion presented it as the first Barbados edition.
The event ran from 6 AM to noon and carried the Canboulay formula into a new setting: paint, powder, mud and Soca on the beach, supported by DJs from New York and Barbados and a large music truck.
In little more than a year, the Canboulay story had moved through:
Brooklyn → Miami Carnival → Barbados Crop Over
Julianspromos also preserved the Barbados chapter. Intrigue Lane handled the on-location video coverage, extending the Canboulay archive into another Caribbean market. The live Julianspromos page confirms the Barbados edition and Intrigue Lane’s role in the coverage.
Julianspromos also preserved the Barbados chapter. Intrigue Lane handled the on-location video coverage, extending the Canboulay archive into another Caribbean market.
2015: Canboulay Returns With Something to Prove
After everything that happened in 2014, Canboulay returned to Brooklyn on Saturday, June 6, 2015.
The venue was Brooklyn Arts Center, 8024 Preston Court.
But the circumstances surrounding the return were very different.
Many patrons still carried a bitter taste from the previous year. After the venue loss, emergency relocation and shutdown of 2014, some people questioned whether Canboulay 2015 would actually happen as advertised.
That uncertainty affected the comeback.
The event drew a strong turnout, but it did not sell out the way 2014 had.
This time, however, Canboulay happened.
There was no last-minute venue loss.
There was no overcrowding shutdown.
The event took place successfully without the problems that had overshadowed the previous year.
For Canboulay, that made 2015 significant in a completely different way. It was not the biggest New York edition, but it was an opportunity to return after a difficult year and deliver the experience patrons had expected.
The promotional artwork kept the familiar Canboulay language alive:
Iz Paint. Iz Powder. Iz Mud. Iz Soca. Iz Vybez.
For a third surviving New York edition, Vivaa hosted the Julianspromos coverage, while Julian C. Hackett shot and edited the footage.
Canboulay New York 2015 — June 6 at Brooklyn Arts Center.
Watch Canboulay New York 2015
The surviving video was uploaded on June 7, 2015, one day after the event.
Photos from Canboulay New York 2015
The Julianspromos website gallery preserves another full visual chapter of the event, from the patrons to the paint-covered atmosphere that had become associated with Canboulay.
The Final Canboulay in New York
Canboulay 2015 became the last edition to take place in New York.
Unlike the previous year, it was not derailed by a venue loss or shut down over capacity. The event took place successfully and drew a strong crowd, but the effects of 2014 were still being felt.
The contrast between the two years is important.
In 2014, Canboulay had sold more than 5,000 tickets, with patrons traveling into New York from around the world, only for the event to lose its original venue at the last moment and later be shut down after relocating to Pulse 48.
When Canboulay returned in 2015, some patrons were understandably hesitant to commit again. The event did not sell out, but those who attended finally received the full Canboulay experience without the problems that had overshadowed the previous year.
That makes the surviving 2015 video and gallery especially meaningful. They preserve not another crisis, but the closing chapter of Canboulay’s New York run — an event that was able to finish successfully after one of its most difficult years.
Gorgelicious Entertainment and the Canboulay Brand
At the center of the New York story was Gorgelicious Promotions / Gorgelicious Entertainment, a Brooklyn promotion company led by a female Caribbean promoter.
The surviving event material shows Canboulay developing through different partnerships while keeping a consistent identity.
In 2013 and 2014, the New York editions were presented with Hyper Active Entertainment. When Canboulay expanded to Barbados Crop Over in 2014, OneIsland Entertainment partnered with Gorgelicious. By the 2015 New York edition, Gorgelicious Entertainment stood at the center of the promotional branding.
The venues changed. The partnerships changed. The event reached new markets.
But the formula remained recognizable: paint, powder, mud, Soca and vibes.
From the Julianspromos Archives
Canboulay is particularly important to the Julianspromos archive because the event and the media platform documenting it were both expanding during the same period.
The relationship begins at Pulse 48 in 2013. Vivaa hosted the coverage, Julian C. Hackett shot and edited the video, and Daniel Simon of Hugh Morris Photography helped create the extensive photographic record that still forms a major part of the archive page.
That combination of on-camera hosting, video and photography came during a period when Julianspromos was developing beyond its earlier focus on digital music promotion and into broader Caribbean multimedia coverage.
Then the geography changed.
A few months after the first New York edition, Julianspromos documented Canboulay during Miami Carnival J’Ouvert.
The following summer brought another New York edition, followed by Canboulay’s expansion to Barbados Crop Over, where Intrigue Lane handled the on-location video coverage.
In 2015, Vivaa and Julian returned for the final New York chapter.
Viewed together, the progression is clear:
New York → Miami → New York → Barbados → New York
That same period was also one of wider expansion for Julianspromos. Coverage had already begun moving beyond New York into Washington, D.C. and Miami by 2012, and by 2013 and 2014 the platform was documenting more Caribbean events across different cities and islands.
Canboulay was making a similar journey.
What began in this archive as a Brooklyn paint fete became connected to Miami Carnival and Barbados Crop Over while maintaining a significant New York following.
For Julianspromos, following that journey created something more valuable with time.
The surviving videos, promotional artwork and website galleries no longer document isolated parties. Together, they preserve the growth of a Caribbean event brand and a Caribbean media platform during the same period.
