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It was impossible not to dance in the streets Monday as the 43rd annual West Indian American Day Carnival and Parade rolled into town, bringing with it bright colors and an infectious beat.

"Beautiful costumes and different music, different cultures coming together,” said one parade-goer.

Believed to be the city's biggest parade, the annual event brings together about three-million people, giving them a chance to display their national pride and reminisce about a faraway home.

“The people treat you very nice when you go,” said a Jamaican-New Yorker. “There’s a whole lot of entertainment and you just feel like a queen when you go there.”

For others, it’s an opportunity to share their culture and heritage with a new generation.

"This is a special day for me and it’s important for me to bring her out here and let her see the culture and just experience this,” said another reveler.

Some come for the food, some for the costumes, and others for the dancing, but while they come for different reasons, from different places, participants are just happy to come together.

"Just having one peace and one heart,” said a performer. “It’s just uniting as one. That's what it is."

"It feels good,” said a parade-goer. “Because when I get around my people, I feel like I'm where I should be.”