The annual Cambridge Carnival is gearing up to host its free festival in the city for the 31st year.

Rooted in African traditions, the festive and colorful celebration brings out thousands of attendees each year. This year’s will be held at University Park in Central Square Carnival on Saturday, Sept. 6 from noon to 4 p.m. and Sunday, September 7 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

At the largest event in the city, community members can look forward to live soca, reggae, Afrobeats and other genres of music; global flavors and street food; vendors and artists; and activities for children and families.

The focal point of the festival is the grand costume parade, which features revelers dancing in extravagant handmade costumes “to the international beat and flavor of Carnival — Cambridge style.”

The 1.3-mile parade route starts between noon and 12:30 p.m. and begins at River and Blackstone streets, passes through Central Square, travels along Massachusetts Avenue, turns right onto Sidney Street and ends in University Park Common.

Nicola Williams, a native of Jamaica and president of the Cambridge Carnival board, said the first event was in 1993 and the city has hosted it ever since.

“It started by a group of residents and businesses from the Caribbean [and] from Brazil, who wanted to celebrate their culture, lived in Cambridge, and [were] very vested in the community,” she said.

She said that the Carnival expanded to a two-day event last year. The theme this year is “The Cultural Revolutions Starts Here and Never Ends.”

“We’re focusing on the parade this year,” Williams said. “We received the grant from MA 250 Initiative. We’re really thrilled about that, because it’s given us the opportunity to offer stipends to our parade participants, because we … are grassroots. Whatever funds we raise through vendors and donations, we put back into the Carnival.”

Williams said that on Saturday, there will be a Pan in the Park Showcase, which will have six to eight groups performing on steel pan drums.

“It’s a steel pan festival, basically, which is a traditional Trinidad carnival. Usually the night before Carnival, there’s a panorama. So, we’ll have a showcase,” she said.

Some of this year’s Carnival performers and special guests include Froca Fitness, the United Panamanian Veterans Marching Band from New York City, the Good Trouble Brass Band, Kandjanwou Rara, Zion In Motion, the Cambridge Youth Steel Orchestra, a steelpan program in collaboration with Tempo, Rhythm and Steel, Boston Rhythm Riders and Aztec Gino.

“It’s going to be amazing — more to come,” she said. “Last year, we introduced a youth stage, which features local DJs . … They’ll get to play and its targeted to the young people. It worked last year, so we’re bringing it back again. We have a huge kids’ area in the Carnival that will have kids, youth, very young children’s programming from knuckle bones, storytelling, to arts and crafts, face painting and balloons.”

Williams said it is important to have cultural events like the Cambridge Carnival.

“It’s really important. We have a few cultural assets in our community, such as BAMS Fest, Boston JerkFest, which I have produced. We have the Roxbury Film Festival, the Roxbury Block Party, Gospel Fest,” she said. “We need to celebrate. We need to support. We need to show up. Carnival is a tradition. It’s part of our history in Cambridge, we’re the longest running cultural festival in Cambridge . … It’s really important that we keep it going.”

ON THE WEB

Learn more at cambridgecarnival.org