The biggest event in the Virgin Islands is coming April  6^th!

THE biggest event in the Virgin Islands each year is Carnival!  In fact, the Virgin Island Carnival is one of the biggest celebrations in the WORLD!  The highlight of the three week celebration is the grande finale - “Adult Parade”. It is the event that most of us think of as Carnival - colorful and BIG costumes, steel bands, floats, and the world famous “Mocko Jumbie” stilt walkers.  (Jumbies, they are stilt dancers who have their origins in West Africa where they were used to scare away evil spirits. You can find them appearing at street festivals and carnival all throughout the Caribbean.)  Every year it is an unforgettable experience. In addition, Virgin Island Carnival on St. Thomas has calypso competitions, local foods, arts and crafts, beauty pageants, concerts, and jump up parties.

The 2008 Virgin Islands Carnival plans have started way ahead of schedule. The plans started today! Beverly Nicholson Doty from the Virgin Island Tourist Board just joined the Carnival Committee, along with Ira Rosen from the States to assist with the planning. Carnival Committee Chairman, Kenneth Blake, and Executive Director, Caswil Callender, announced this year’s festivities Tuesday morning at a press conference at Palms Court Harbor View Hotel. The committee praised the participation of Gov. John deJongh Jr. in this years’ party. “He has done what he said he would do to work with us. We sat down with him two weeks ago and listened to his suggestions. He didn’t try to press anything on us just because he is the governor; he really listened to us.”  The hurdles each year are getting corporate sponsorship.  There are thousands of dollars that are earned by the local businesses in the Virgin Islands, but it is still a challenge for the committee to get the local businesses to give back to this critical annual event.

Mr. Rosen said, “We need to increase the number of cultural tourists. We need to promote Carnival because it is safe, because no passport is needed in the Virgin Islands, and because of what we have to offer to cultural tourists over leisure tourists. The cultural tourist will spend three time that of the leisure tourist, and will stay three times as long.” Mr. Rosen may need a year or more to spread the word on the mainland, but the committee is confident with their game plan that they will create this result.

This year’s committee has a total budget of almost $1.1 million. They are hoping to get $600,000 from the government, and they will raise the additional $500,000 from business sponsorships.
Again, Carnival opens April 6^th with the Prince and Princess Selection Show at 5PM at Lionel Roberts Stadium, and concludes when Carnival Village closes with a “Last Lap” from midnight to 2AM April 27^th. I hope to see you all there…