1977 – First Butetown Carnival

1977 marks the first official Butetown Carnival – the year the community’s carnival became an annual fixture. The Carnival was enshrined as a highlight of Cardiff’s cultural calendar from this year onward. Organised by local youth leaders and community groups (often centred around the Butetown Youth Club and Community Centre), the inaugural late-70s carnivals were humble but spirited. The event typically occurred over the August bank holiday, featuring a parade of residents in homemade costumes, live music on makeshift stages, and food stalls celebrating the area’s diversity. Launching in 1977 – the same year as the Queen’s Silver Jubilee – the carnival asserted Tiger Bay’s identity amidst national celebrations. It provided a creative outlet for the community when Butetown (Tiger Bay) underwent significant social and physical changes. The first carnival set traditions that continue today: a street procession starting from the heart of Butetown (often Loudoun Square), energetic steel bands and dance troupes, and an atmosphere of unity. Keith Murrell notes that from 1977, the Carnival “became what we know it as today”. Importantly, it was a community-led production – a proud reclamation of cultural space. The late 1970s carnivals received enthusiastic support from local families and businesses, establishing an annual celebration that would grow immensely in the following decade.

1977: First Butetown Carnival in Tiger Bay

Children and adults unite in a vibrant parade during an early Butetown Carnival (c.1991). Community-made costumes like the “Butetown Dragon” became a beloved feature of the annual festivities, symbolising Tiger Bay’s carnival’s inclusive and multicultural spirit. This spirit was a section of the diverse community in Butetown, but also a powerful force of acceptance, especially in the context of the area’s history of racial tension, not just reflections and social changes. 

By summer 1977, the plans became a reality. On the August bank holiday, Butetown held its first official Carnival on its home turf of Cardiff’s docklands. What had been a dream born of anger and hope was now alive in the streets of Tiger Bay. The inaugural Butetown Carnival of 1977 was an immediate success, so much so that it became an annual fixture in Cardiff’s cultural calendar from that year onward. Contemporary reports describe the excitement of that first carnival: Afro-Caribbean music echoed through the streets, Welsh and West Indian food stalls lined the sidewalks, children in homemade costumes danced alongside seasoned performers, and families of all backgrounds joined in the celebration. The diversity that had once been attacked at the city parade was now proudly displayed in Butetown’s neighbourhood.

Importantly, the carnival stayed true to its grassroots origins. The organisers were the local youth and volunteers who had spearheaded the idea, many of whom were the Butetown Youth Club members. The club was not just a preparation hub, but a driving force behind the carnival, from costume-making workshops to steel band rehearsals. Community elders lent their support and wisdom, but the young people of Butetown were leading the way, reclaiming their dignity through celebration. As Keith Murrell later reflected, the carnival was the community’s answer to exclusion: it was intentionally inclusive, welcoming everyone in Cardiff to experience the rich cultural tapestry of Tiger Bay. What had begun as a response to racist provocation had morphed into “the most inclusive cultural event in Cardiff”.

The success of 1977 paved the way for the carnival to grow. Throughout the late 1970s and 1980s, Butetown Carnival expanded in size and reputation. By the mid-1980s, it was acclaimed as the city’s most significant cultural event, drawing crowds of 20–25,000 people daily despite the Butetown area having only around 4,000 residents. The Carnival became a highlight of the summer – a time when all of Cardiff, from dockworkers to students to families from the suburbs, would pour into Tiger Bay to enjoy live reggae, calypso, and soul music, dance in the streets, and celebrate side by side with Butetown’s multicultural community. In the words of one article, “throughout Butetown Carnival’s tenure of more than 40 years, the celebrations rivalled festivals across the border, including St Paul’s and Notting Hill.” The carnival’s success brought joy to the community. It fostered cultural exchange and understanding, as people from all walks of life came together to celebrate the diversity and richness of Tiger Bay’s culture.

The First Carnival of 1977: A New Tradition Begins

 

Against this backdrop, the inaugural Butetown Carnival was held in late summer 1977, marking the first official edition of an annual tradition. Organised by local youth leaders and volunteers – many from the Butetown Youth Club – with support from teachers, parents, and community groups, the 1977 carnival was a grassroots production in every sense. It took place in the heart of Butetown (Tiger Bay), with the streets and squares of the neighbourhood transformed by music and colour. Eyewitnesses recall a vibrant street parade that first year, with residents of all ages marching through the community behind lively floats and banners. The procession featured homemade costumes and masquerades inspired by Caribbean carnival style: feathered headdresses, bright African prints, and inventive outfits crafted from the community’s gathered materials. At the front, members of a local steel pan band kept infectious rhythms ringing through the streets, followed by dancers and troupe members from the youth club. Neighbours set up stalls offering Caribbean and Welsh food, and sound systems pumped out reggae, calypso, soul, and funk – the soundtrack of 1970s Tiger Bay. Thanks to its joyous atmosphere, what started as a suburban celebration quickly drew crowds from beyond Butetown, a small neighbourhood. Contemporary reports noted that the new carnival “attracted tens of thousands of people” in its heyday, growing each year after that humble start.

From the beginning, music was at the heart of Butetown Carnival. Community bands and youth performers took the stage alongside sound systems on street corners. The event has been described as a “community-based Black music festival,” reflecting how strongly it showcased the talents and tastes of Cardiff’s Black population. In the late 1970s, one might hear local reggae bands, Somali or West Indian drummers, and Welsh jazz musicians all in the mix at Butetown Carnival. Oral histories mention groups like The Midnighters or The Bay Invaders (neighbourhood steel pan ensembles) playing under makeshift tents, while children’s dance troupes – notably The Little Butes, a troupe of local kids – delighted crowds with traditional and modern dances. The Butetown Carnival of 1977 also set the template of blending cultures that would define the event in years to come: alongside Afro-Caribbean music and costume, organisers included nods to Welsh culture and the diverse origins of Tiger Bay residents. It was not unusual to see a Chinese lion dance or an Indian bhangra group joining the parade in the early years, highlighting the inclusive spirit of the carnival. As one longtime participant, Steve Fletcher, later observed, Butetown’s Carnival was truly community-driven – an exuberant celebration “by local people” that doubled as a statement of unity. At a time when Cardiff’s minority communities rarely saw their culture in public festivals, the 1977 carnival boldly claimed space for Tiger Bay on the city’s cultural map.

Community Identity and the 1970s Climate

 

The birth of Butetown Carnival in 1977 cannot be separated from the era’s wider social and political climate. The late 1970s were a time of racial tensions and economic challenges in Britain’s cities, and Cardiff was no exception. Butetown’s carnival was, at its core, a response to these pressures – a creative outlet for pride in a community often marginalised by mainstream society. The event’s very genesis was an act of resistance against racism (after the parade ban), and its organisers saw carnival as an “antidote” to the negativity their youth faced. “Carnival was not just a party; it was a statement of identity and resistance,” notes one retrospective on the Tiger Bay community, emphasising how the festival gave Black and minority residents a platform to celebrate themselves in the face of prejudice.

Several factors in Cardiff’s 1970s context fueled the carnival’s creation. One was the urban redevelopment of Butetown– the so-called “slum clearance.” During the 1960s–70s, large swaths of old Tiger Bay were demolished as part of city planning, displacing families and disrupting community networks. The earlier Mardi Gras had been a “palliative response” by officials to ease the pain of these upheavals. By 1977, many long-term residents felt a loss of the close-knit neighbourhood that once was, and the new carnival helped rekindle a sense of community solidarity on their terms. Another factor was the broader rise of Black cultural expression and self-determination across the UK. During the 1970s, carnivals sprang up in other British cities – notably the St. Paul’s Carnival in Bristol and Notting Hill Carnival in London, which had begun in the 1960s but surged in size and influence in the ’70s. Cardiff’s Butetown Carnival was a part of this nationwide movement: it gave “Black and minority communities” in Wales their own space to celebrate heritage and push back against racism.

Events in 1976 underscored the need for a local carnival. That year, Butetown’s planned summer carnival festivities were rained off, and a group of Tiger Bay residents travelled to London to attend Notting Hill Carnival instead. They arrived just in time to witness the notorious Notting Hill Carnival riot of 1976, when clashes between Black youth and heavy-handed police made headlines. “We were all safe, but when we got back,” recalls Keith Murrell of the trip, “the community leaders and elders decided that Carnival would be a permanent fixture in Butetown, so that we didn’t have to go away to find our culture”. In other words, the tumult of 1976 reinforced Cardiff’s resolve to establish its carnival at home – a positive, self-controlled environment, free from the hostility they had experienced elsewhere. From 1977 onward, Butetown Carnival became that fixture: an annual event every August bank holiday that grew bigger and brighter each year.

By the mid-1980s, the carnival that started as a local protest had blossomed into “the biggest cultural event in Cardiff,” drawing daily crowds of 20–25,000 people (in a community of only a few thousand). Its popularity and longevity speak to the profound role it played. For the diverse residents of Tiger Bay, the carnival was a source of pride, empowerment, and joy – a day when their music and traditions took centre stage in the city. Keith Murrell later summed up the ethos behind that first 1977 carnival and all that followed: “Our response to being excluded from the Lord Mayor’s Parade was to put on the most inclusive cultural event in Cardiff, possibly Wales.”. And so they did – transforming a painful incident of exclusion into a triumphant celebration of community that has left a lasting legacy in Cardiff’s cultural history.

Preserving the Legacy: Archives, Memories and Media

 

The early years of Butetown Carnival left a rich paper trail and a treasure trove of memories. Contemporary newspaper coverage in Cardiff’s press (like the South Wales Echo and Western Mail) documented key moments – from the Youth Club’s banning in the 1970s to the burgeoning crowds of the 1980s. Photographs from those decades capture the carnival’s energy: archival images show costumed youngsters parading with dragons and lions, sound systems and brass bands on lorry floats, and elders and children dancing together in the streets. Many such photographs have been preserved in local archives; for example, Media Wales’s Memory Lane collection and the Bay Life Archive contain numerous snapshots of Butetown Carnival in the ’80s and ’90s. These images have recently been digitised and even colourised, allowing new generations to appreciate the carnival’s heyday in full colour.

Oral histories have also been crucial in keeping the story alive. Community figures like Keith Murrell have shared first-hand recollections in interviews and articles, providing invaluable insight into the carnival’s origins and meaning. (Murrell himself authored a detailed history for the Open University’s OpenLearn, narrating the carnival’s journey from the 1970s to today .) Elders in Butetown, such as the late Betty Campbell (Wales’s first Black headteacher) and Olwen Watkins (a local teacher and historian), also passed down stories of Tiger Bay’s carnival tradition – from the informal street parades of seafarers in earlier decades to the Mardi Gras of 1967–68, and finally the community-led carnival post-1977. These personal accounts emphasise how the carnival was a source of pride and resilience. One organiser said, “We aimed to do something with nothing – Carnival has this fire and you can’t take it away from us.”

Fortunately, much of this heritage has been formally archived. In recent years, the Butetown Arts and Culture Association (BACA), which now runs the carnival, has curated the Butetown Carnival Archive – a collection of photographs, videos, flyers, and memorabilia from the 1960s to the present. In 2023, the Senedd (Welsh Parliament) hosted a special exhibition showcasing this archive. The exhibit featured vintage carnival posters, hand-crafted costumes, audio recordings of steel drum performances, and oral testimony from community members. These materials “capture the essence of the carnival’s evolution over the years,” celebrating the community’s resilience, creativity, and unity – the friendships made and barriers broken.” Such efforts ensure that the story of Butetown Carnival’s origins is not forgotten.

From a painful incident of racist harassment grew a joyful new tradition that has enriched Cardiff’s culture. The Butetown Carnival is a testament to the Tiger Bay community’s ability to transform exclusion into empowerment. Its 1970s origin – driven by youth protest and guided by wise elders – aligns with a broader legacy of Black British carnivals using music and dance as tools of resistance and inclusion. Thanks to archived news reports, photographs, and oral histories, we can vividly recount how “our carnival” was born. And each summer, when the beats of Carnival reverberate through Cardiff Bay again, they echo the determination of those 1970s youth who set out to prove that Butetown’s culture belongs at the heart of the city, on its terms.

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