The Lord Mayor's Celebrations are over 300 years old and stem from the traditional style of floats in a parade. These initially would have been horse-drawn carriages. These were followed by lorries and participants built their entries on to the back of them; around 2002  there were no more horses in the procession. The Caribbean influence in the carnival has developed over the past 20 years and today many groups build costumes that they can walk and dance in. As participants are becoming more experienced in, and influenced by this style, we are seeing more and more imaginative and large-scale costumes.

Many diverse organisations take part from community carnival groups, schools, performance groups, bands to commercial companies. This brings many different styles and influences. Around 2004 the participants voted not to have a theme and the theme was dropped - this meant that people were free to create exactly what they wanted and the carnival was more varied and exciting.

The infrastructure for the carnival is organised and paid for by Norwich City Council. This means that carnival enthusiasts and participants are free to spend their time creating their entries and do not have to spend time and money on organising road closures, barriers, stewards and the many other elements that are required to run a carnival.