Sesame Flyers Unveils “Fire & Ice” for New York Carnival 2012

Before Eastern Parkway filled with masqueraders for Labor Day, Sesame Flyers International was already heating up the 2012 Carnival season with a presentation built around extremes: “Fire & Ice.”

Julianspromos captured the 2012 Sesame Flyers band launch, preserving an early look at the costumes and sections the Brooklyn organization was preparing to bring to New York Carnival.

The theme gave Sesame a simple but visually powerful idea to work with: heat against cold, fire against ice, and contrasting colors and textures brought together inside one large Carnival presentation.

Fire Meets Ice

“Fire & Ice” was the kind of Carnival theme that could immediately split into different visual worlds.

Some sections could lean into heat, intensity and bold color.

Others could move toward colder tones, metallic elements and icy styling.

That contrast gave designers freedom to create very different costumes without losing the identity of the overall presentation.

For masqueraders watching the launch, the question was not only whether they wanted to play with Sesame Flyers.

It was which side of Fire & Ice they wanted to become.

Inside the 2012 Costume Lineup

A surviving July 2012 visit to the Sesame Flyers mas camp gives us some unusually specific details about the costumes being offered that season.

One section was “The Coldest Blue,” designed by Caprice and Akin. The contemporary account describes multiple costume options, including a more elaborate midline version with a large headpiece.

Another section, “Hypnotice,” was designed by Exotica Ladies and used gray, teal and red, with styling that the reviewer described as futuristic.

The same mas-camp visit also documented “Concoction,” designed by Sibongile, featuring mesh, feathers and additional costume detailing.

Those names give us a much better sense of the presentation than simply calling it Fire & Ice.

The band was made up of multiple distinct costume experiences, each giving masqueraders a different way into the larger theme.

Sesame Flyers Was Already a Carnival Powerhouse

By 2012, Sesame Flyers was far from a newcomer.

The organization had been participating in Brooklyn Carnival for years and had developed a reputation as one of the major large bands on Eastern Parkway.

Sesame Flyers’ own history says its adult mas operation began in the early 1990s and later accumulated numerous Large Band of the Year titles.

The organization itself had been founded in 1983, with its work extending well beyond Carnival into youth development and community programming in Brooklyn. The New York State Senate formally recognized Sesame Flyers’ 29th anniversary in 2012 and specifically highlighted its participation in Kiddies Carnival, Panorama and the adult Labor Day parade.

That meant Fire & Ice entered the season with expectations already attached.

Sesame Flyers was one of the bands people expected to see near the top.

From the Launch to Eastern Parkway

By Labor Day, the costumes had left the stage and mas camp behind.

Fire & Ice became a full road presentation competing in the Adult Large Band category at the 2012 West Indian American Day Carnival.

The official 2012 results show:

1st Place: Ramajay Mas — Wings: We’re Flying
2nd Place: Sesame Flyers International — Fire & Ice
3rd Place: Natural Freaks Unlimited — Illusions

That result gives the launch footage a satisfying ending.

The costumes viewers see being introduced in the Julianspromos video were eventually part of the presentation that carried Sesame Flyers to second place among New York Carnival’s large adult bands.

A Strong Year for Brooklyn Mas

The top three results also show how competitive the 2012 season was.

Ramajay was flying with WINGS.

Natural Freaks was entering the Parkway with Illusions.

And Sesame Flyers was positioned right between them with Fire & Ice.

That makes the surviving Julianspromos footage more than a random costume launch.

Together with the Ramajay and Freaks NY videos from the same season, it lets the archive reconstruct three of the bands that eventually finished first, second and third in the Adult Large Band competition.

The launch videos show the beginning.

The results tell us how the story ended.

Before Fire & Ice Hit the Road

That is the fun of revisiting footage like this.

At the launch, nobody had reached Eastern Parkway yet.

The costumes were still fresh.

Masqueraders were still deciding what to wear.

Designers were still seeing their work presented to the public.

And the competition was still wide open.

Months later, Sesame Flyers would take Fire & Ice onto the Parkway and finish second in one of New York Carnival’s biggest competitive categories.

But first, Brooklyn got the reveal.