The Santo Domingo Carnival continues this Sunday afternoon, 22 February 2015 along Maximo Gomez Avenue, filling the street with color and joy. This year Santo Domingo is celebrating the 500th anniversary of carnival celebrations in the Americas. The city government says that the first ever carnival was held in 1515, just 23 years after the European arrival in 1492.
The 2015 Santo Domingo Carnival along Maximo Gomez Avenue (from Jose Contreras to the Malecon) takes place from 3 to 7pm. In Santo Domingo East, the carnival parades and partying happen along the Avenida Espana seafront avenue from 2pm.
The most famous Dominican carnival celebrations are in La Vega (with the traditional diablo cojuelo characters), Bonao (macaraos), and Santiago (lechones). In Puerto Plata there is also a carnival at the Central Park where the traditional carnival character is the “taimascaro”.
The National Carnival Parade then takes place in Santo Domingo on Sunday, 1 March 2015 when the best carnival troupes from all around the country will parade on Santo Domingo’s Malecon seafront avenue. Another national carnival celebration can be seen on Sunday, 7 March, when a selection of the nation’s top carnival troupes travel to Punta Cana for the now-traditional Punta Cana Village carnival.