Nearly 50 floats paraded through Cruz Bay Wednesday afternoon in one of the grandest, most colorful, and crowded St. John Festival events the island’s seen.
The event was broadcast on the PBS station on St. Croix, WTJX. The TV station’s Web page pictured here also carried the broadcast. Here, the home page showing a float sponsored by St. John Brewers.
These pictures are screen grabs from the Webcast.
The St. John Pan Dragons included about 35 musicians on their performance truck.
As usual, the St. John Westin Resort had a spectacular entry; dozens of marchers danced in extravagant costumes.
The parade of dancers, marchers, musicians, and floats (they call them 'troupes' lasted several hours).
Whiule the sun was not beating down all day, and the skies were partly cloudy, temperatures did reach the high '80s, making performing a hot and sweaty experience.
Carnival was certainly fun, I do NOT believe it was the best, The Art in the park/ Island foods, and unsightly empty planters were missing from the park. Many tourists asked about the Islands Artists (Handmade crafts), Food (Local veggies,fruit,jams..) and Life (flowers) in the park.
Crowded? yes, but not like in the past. I felt the schedule was poorly done, difficult to understand. Trash cans were not maintained throughout the day/night.
Just a few tips on improving for next year. We need to get the Culture of the island back in the limelight.
The village with the music and food venders was nicely done. Bravo to all those that participated.