Tiger Bay Parade: Heart of the Butetown Carnival

Tiger Bay Parade is the vibrant centerpiece of Cardiff’s Butetown Carnival, an annual celebration of the multicultural heritage of Butetown (historically known as Tiger Bay). The parade and carnival date back decades, evolving from modest community gatherings into one of Wales’s most significant cultural events. Below, we explore the parade’s origins, its key milestones, cultural impact, and how it continues to thrive and evolve today.

Historical Background

Butetown has long been a cultural melting pot. In the early 20th century, seafarers from Africa, the Caribbean, and elsewhere would hold impromptu street performances and mini-parades in Tiger Bay, seeding a tradition of community celebration. By the mid-1960s, formal festivities emerged: Butetown Mardi Gras was launched in 1967 as an “International Caribbean Carnival,” initially organized by city officials as a goodwill event during local slum clearances. This early carnival – though relatively small, with a marquee near the community centre – introduced local residents to live music and dance beyond church halls.

However, it was truly the community itself that gave birth to the Tiger Bay Parade and Butetown Carnival as we know it. In the 1970s, youth from Butetown participated in Cardiff’s Lord Mayor’s Parade with Caribbean-themed floats – until racist jeers from onlookers led to a confrontation in which the Butetown Youth Club was unfairly banned from that city parade. In response, Butetown’s community leaders decided to “hold their own event” and deliberately make it a Carnival, recognizing the cultural power of carnival traditions. “Our response to being excluded from the Lord Mayor’s Parade was to put on the most inclusive cultural event in Cardiff, possibly Wales,” recalls Keith Murrell, a lifelong Butetown resident and current carnival director. After witnessing the 1976 Notting Hill Carnival unrest in London, Butetown elders resolved to make their carnival a permanent fixture so locals “didn’t have to go away to find our culture.” Thus, from 1977 onward, an annual community-organized carnival and parade took root in Tiger Bay.

2010s – Revival and Growth

By 2014, Butetown residents – many too young to remember the original carnival – pushed for a comeback. Initially, the plan was for a small-scale event, a grassroots effort to reignite the carnival spirit. However, it quickly expanded after being offered a stage, which gave organizers the platform to attract performers and a larger audience. “We just got a few friends, performed, and had a barbecue at the community centre… a mini parade. It was very small and random but full of fun and love,” Keith Murrell recalls.

By 2015, the carnival grew to two days and two stages, securing additional performers, workshops, and family-friendly activities. That same year, the Butetown Arts & Culture Association (BACA) was formed to officially run and expand the carnival and its associated arts initiatives.

Late 2010s – Partnership with WMC and Continued Expansion

A turning point came in 2018, when Cardiff hosted the National Eisteddfod (a major Welsh arts festival) and invited Butetown Carnival to collaborate. “That was a pivotal moment… we could no longer be ignored,” Keith notes.

One of the key institutional supporters has been the Wales Millennium Centre (WMC). Over the years, WMC has played a crucial role in the growth and development of Butetown Carnival, offering resources, space, and partnership opportunities that helped the event reach new audiences. Importantly, the relationship has been reciprocal—the carnival itself has become an essential part of WMC’s engagement with Cardiff’s diverse communities, reinforcing the centre’s commitment to grassroots cultural events.

By 2019, the carnival had regained significant attendance and city-wide recognition, featuring:

• Expanded parade routes
• Multiple music stages with a variety of performances, from reggae to Somali dance
• Workshops and creative collaborations with local artists

2020s – Present and Future Vision

Despite challenges, the Tiger Bay Parade remains a symbol of Butetown’s cultural resilience. The relationship with WMC continues to strengthen, ensuring that the carnival not only preserves its grassroots identity but also gains institutional backing to sustain its future growth.

Looking ahead, the vision is not just to recreate past glory days but to surpass them. As Keith notes: “We started with a small idea in 2014, and it grew beyond what we expected. Now, with the right support, we can take it even further.”