Crucian Festival 2016-17 One For The History Books

ST. CROIX — The buzz is strong. In various segments of the St. Croix community — and on every social media platform — locals have been praising the 2016-17 Crucian Festival as one of the best yet.

You can’t blame them.

Importantly, the festivities — which included a myriad of events preceding and during official activities that were organized by private promoters — were without violence. And the official events, including Festival Village activities and the Children’s and Adults parades, along with j’ouvert, saw strong turnout.

The Children’s Parade, which had long suffered from poor turnout both in St. Thomas and here, was well attended this year, with the streets of Frederiksted being lined with attendees, cheering participants along the parade route on Friday.

The Adults Parade this year brightened the west town with vibrant colors as multiple troupes partied on the streets on Saturday. This year’s troupe lineup was beefier than last year’s, and the costumes were nothing to scoff at.

Further building excitement for the festivities, was the ability to watch it live on Facebook, via The Consortium’s professional livestream, which saw thousands of comments from residents at home and abroad (mostly abroad). The company’s coverage of the parades reached over 2 million people, and that’s excluding Festival Village coverage and j’ouvert morning.

Speaking of j’ouvert morning, with at least five troupes overtaking the town of Frederiksted on Wednesday morning, along with at least two bands on the road free of charge, this year’s event was the biggest in history. J’ouvert was followed by the annual food fair near Buddhoe Park.

Dignitaries, as expected, were in attendance; some could even be seen having a good time alongside residents behind big trucks. Governor Kenneth Mapp, who was interviewed by this publication twice during the festivities — once during the Children’s Parade and the other during the Adults Parade — spoke of the importance of expanding St. Croix’s festival, as it serves as a tool to significantly bolster tourism.

With this year being the territory’s 100th Centennial celebration, the success of the festival served as a relief to Davidson Charlemagne, chairman of the festival committee. He expressed satisfaction with the events.

“It was well attended, had no violence, and the entertainment was off the charts,” Mr. Charlemagne said. He also applauded events put together by promoters that he said served to enhance the festive experience. “Overall, everything came off very well and the best thing is that it was violence-free,” he said. Mr. Charlemagne also thanked the sponsors who supported the effort.

The events came to an end on Sunday with Latin Night at the Festival Village, which included a band from Puerto Rico, as well as a local group. It was preceded by fireworks, a tradition that marks the end of the festive season here.

With events going so well, one would think it’d be hard to top, but not Mr. Charlemagne: “If people think this year was good, next year will be even better,” he concluded.