Twice a year, on Boxing Day (December 26) and New Year's morning, downtown Nassau closes for the Junkanoo parade. Thousands of performers in costumes built from coloured crepe paper, cardboard, and wire process along Bay Street to the rhythm of goatskin drums, cowbells, and brass — competing in formal categories for cash prizes, but mostly drumming for the sake of it.
The parade starts around 2 am and continues until well after dawn; the costumes are best seen at sunrise when the gold-leaf and feathers catch the light. Grandstand tickets are available from the Bahamas Tourist Office; the street is free but loud. A smaller Junkanoo Summer Festival runs Saturday nights in July at Arawak Cay for those who cannot be in Nassau over Christmas.