A Note from the Acting President / General Manager Operations:
Hamilton Carnival
After loosing our founder Kenneth Ling in 2007 to cancer and the devastating weather condition in 2008, the popular Hamilton carnival is back with a better and greater focus on our Multi-cultural festival.
This new beginning has given us greater awareness of the other cultures that live among us; we feel that it is necessary to strongly embrace the diversity, which come as a result of living in a multi-ethnic community.
Cancer claims founder of Hamilton Mardi Gras
A community icon and founder of the popular Hamilton carnival, Kennth Ling, passed away in 2007 a long battle with cancer. He was buried on Tuesday in Hamilton.
Well-known in the Caribbean arts community, Ling was the manager of a number of top bands, and also created a name for himself as a promoter of Caribbean events in Canada.
In 2001, he single-handedly pursued the idea of starting a Caribbean-styled carnival in Ontario’s “steel town” Hamilton, where he lived, “to promote a greater sense of awareness
of the diverse local cultures,” he said at the time.
That was the year the Hamilton Mardi Gras was born, with the support of Hamilton Mayor
Fred Eisenberger.