1990s: Decline Amid Funding Struggles and Redevelopment

After its golden era, Butetown Carnival faced headwinds in the 1990s. By the early ’90s the event was in decline due to chronic funding issues and the upheaval of redevelopment in Cardiff Bay . The late 1980s had seen the start of a massive urban renewal project in the docks – the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation’s plans often overlooked the Tiger Bay community’s input. In 1988, the original organizing group disbanded due to financial troubles . External bodies (including the Bay redevelopment company) attempted to take over and commercialize the Carnival, but residents resisted having their festival taken out of local hands . In response, community members – including a young Keith Murrell – formed Tiger Bay Community Arts to save the Carnival . They managed to keep it running into the mid-90s, scraping together funds and inheriting small grants. “We got together to inherit some funding but after three years, the money ran out,” Keith recalls of that period. “The community became disheartened… we found ourselves in competition with other cultural events in Cardiff… In the end, Carnival just stopped happening” .

Despite passionate volunteer efforts, the Carnival downsized. Contemporary reports from 1995 describe organizers working from their homes (unable to afford an office or even a telephone) yet determined that “the show must go on” . That year, longtime organizer Humie Webbe insisted rumors of cancellation were false: “This is absolutely untrue… the carnival will still go on” she told the South Wales Echo, even as bands had to accept budget cuts . Mid-90s events still drew crowds – up to 15,000 visitors in 1994/95 – but finances were tight, with costs around £22,000 and dwindling sponsorship . The Carnival navigated “big changes in Butetown” as the Bay area was literally under construction around it . The 31st Carnival took place on August 28, 1995, “bringing the sound of the Caribbean to Cardiff Bay” , signaling that parts of the parade were already moving into the newly developed waterfront areas. Ultimately, however, the strain was too great: 1998 saw the last Butetown Carnival of the 20th century, when the event came to a halt . A combination of factors – lack of funding, loss of organizational capacity, and competition from other city festivals – ended an era. For the next decade and a half, Cardiff’s famed Tiger Bay Carnival would lie dormant, kept alive only in community memory.