It used to be a carnival, not a parade. You could just jump into the action at any point and dance on the streets at your hearts content. When did it go downhill? Somewhere in the 90s after the police started barricading and forced it into a parade. To me, that was just inviting violence, not containing it. Hence, the following story : Four people were shot and another person was stabbed after a brawl broke out in Union Square Park early Thursday morning, cops and witnesses said.