Mayor Rob Ford, a prominent no-show at Pride festivities, made a different promise to revellers at the launch Tuesday of Scotiabank Caribbean Carnival Toronto.

“I’ll see you all there,” he yelled to cheers before dancing with masqueraders and posing for a few photos outside City Hall.

In a brief appearance, Ford praised the festival’s contribution to the province’s economy — about $483 million in 2009 — and arts scene.

More than 250 showed up at the launch of what used to be called Caribana, including protesters wearing “Caribana 2011 Forever” T-shirts.

Carrying signs that said, “The new pirate of the Caribbean is Scotiabank,” the dozen or so people stood quietly below the stage to protest the festival’s name change as organizers and Scotiabank vice-president John Doig spoke.

After about 20 minutes, the protesters were ushered away by security.

Henry Gomez, chair of the Caribana Arts Group (CAG), organized the protest because he feels the festival has been taken over by corporate sponsors. The CAG, successor of the Caribbean Cultural Committee, which started the event in 1967 but lost control in 2006, claims the festival as its intellectual property. The Ontario Superior Court has ruled festival organizers can’t use the trademarked name Caribana anymore.

A bitter legal battle continues but “we wanted to deal with (the issue) in the court of public opinion as well,” Gomez said, adding the group has plans to show up at other Carnival events.

“This event is everyone’s event,” Councillor Michael Thompson told protesters during his speech.

The festival runs for about three weeks, culminating in the grand parade on July 30.