With Christiansted Jump Up, Party Season Has Begun

ST. CROIX — Just after 5:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon, Norwegian Airlines landed on St. Croix, carrying European tourists as part of its weekly trip to the island, lasting until April, 2016, with the option to renew. Whoever crafted the logistics could not have chosen a better season to visit the Virgin  Islands, particularly, St. Croix, as excitement for Christmas and Carnival activities builds right after Thanksgiving, beginning with the Thanksgiving Jump Up in Christiansted.

If last night’s party was any indication, residents here and visitors alike are ready for a memorable season.

Organizers of the annual Thanksgiving Jump Up brought the usual suspects to play, including the Ebenezer Methodist Steel Orchestra, Rising Stars Youth Steel Orchestra, and other local groups, all spread about downtown Christiansted, serenading event-goers.

Vendors also lined the area, the epicenter of which was the intersection near Government House, with activities facing east, west and north. Near the Hotel Caravelle, the Ebenezer steel pan group delighted onlookers and others with Christmas and Gospel songs. Facing north, the Rising Stars group, an award winning organization, turned up the tempo with a wide range of hits, including Machel Montano’s Like Ah Boss. Further down, heading past Fort Christiansvaern and making the right back into town, a small group of revelers, backed by the territory’s iconic characters, the Moko Jumbies, danced their way heading south to a range of songs, including Kerwin Du Bois’ Too Real, backed by drums of different styles and sounds, being wheeled along with the group and played by at least five individuals.

If the mood was rapturous, it was because of the people who came out only to have a good time. Some came with families, others with friends — but all to eat and enjoy the traditions of this island.

Jump Up events are held numerous times throughout the year, and aside from the fun times, it works as a way to bolster retail outlets in Christiansted, especially needed now in light of St. Croix’s an anemic economic climate, made critical by the closure of HOVENSA in 2012.

And contrary to last year’s gathering, which was said to be one of the slowest in years, Friday night’s Jump Up saw sizable crowds in various locations, mostly where entertaining groups were performing. It was also a detour from the organizers usual layout, giving this year’s event a more carnival feel with the small band of revelers tramping down the road in classic Virgin Islands modus operandi, making last night’s party quintessentially what it has been called for so long: Jump Up.

The event came to a close near 10:00 p.m., but even past that time, people lingered in town and patronized outlets not in the immediate vicinity of the activities.

Aside from the many other events taking place throughout the last month of the year, on December 11, this year’s Party Monarch eliminations take place, followed by a mini Village and j’ouvert event in the Basin Triangle on December 12. Thereafter, the territory’s children hit the stage for the Prince and Princess show on December 13, followed by the Carnival Queen show on December 20, and the opening of the Village in Frederiksted on December 26. See the full lineup of the Crucian Christmas Carnival activities here.