A woman dances on Lake Shore Boulevard during the 2008 Caribana Parade. A woman dances on Lake Shore Boulevard during the 2008 Caribana Parade. (Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)

Joe Halstead, the outgoing chief executive of Toronto's annual Caribana festival, had plenty to smile about Friday.

With weather looking promising for Saturday's parade — the centrepiece of North America’s largest Caribbean festival — a last-minute funding stream will put the fiscally troubled event in the black.

Halstead announced on CBC’s Metro Morning on Friday that a partner has stepped up to help Caribana in a new deal completed on Thursday.

Halstead wouldn't say who the partner is but hinted the province was instrumental in making the funding possible and said a formal announcement would be made later in the day.

A Caribana spokesperson said in the afternoon that the announcement is now expected sometime during the weekend.

Road closures

The 43rd annual Scotiabank Caribana Festival Parade kicks off Saturday at 10 a.m., filling downtown Toronto with costumed dancers and music.

Whether you’re heading to Lake Shore Boulevard to join the parade or trying to leave town for the long weekend, there are some road closures and traffic delays to be aware of.

Lake Shore Boulevard will be closed overnight at 1:30 a.m. ET between Strachan Avenue and Colbourne Lodge Drive eastbound, and to Parkside Drive westbound.

The Jameson entrance and exit ramps and the British Columbia entrance on the eastbound Gardiner Expressway and westbound Dunn Avenue exit ramp will be closed after midnight Friday night.

TTC will ramp up service with additional buses and streetcars to handle crowds on the Parkside, Jameson, Dufferin and Bathurst routes.

The Princes’ Gates at Exhibition Place will close after midnight Friday. Traffic will be restricted around the parade area all day Saturday.

“There will not be a deficit,” Halstead told CBC News. “Caribana will not be shortchanged this year.”

The 11th-hour partnership comes just as festival organizers were scrambling to deal with massive budget troubles.

Ottawa withheld $400,000 in funding, and Caribana staff have had to make deep cuts — including taking a 30 per cent pay reduction. Since its inception in 1967, the festival has grown to attract well over one million spectators annually, but money woes have dogged Caribana in recent years.

“Those years, there were issues with accountability, issues with administrative processes and so on,” said Halstead, who took over as CEO in 2006. However, Caribana is “well embedded in the community, corporate businesses want to support it, and they had to be assured that things were all right. And we’ve done that.

“It has been a hell of a ride. I can tell you I’m a happy man this morning.”

The Caribana parade begins at 10 a.m. Saturday at Exhibition Place, follows Lake Shore Boulevard West and ends at Lake Shore and Parkside Drive.