On Monday, Jan. 17, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, the St. John Community Foundation will present a lecture/demonsration on traditional St. John basketmaking. It will take place in Coral Bay from 10 a.m. to noon at the Bay Rum Distillery Building, also known as the Agriculture Station.
Bernard A. Kemp, a St. John economist and historian specializing in craft work, will present the lecture, in cooperation with native St. Johnian educator and author Guy H. Benjamin. Pastor Ralph Prince, son of longtime St. John basket weaver Herman Prince, will demonstrate basketmaking techniques while the lecture is in progress.
The program, funded in part by the Virgin Islands Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, is open to the public and free of charge. Refreshments will be served.
Vitran bus service is available from Cruz Bay to within walking distance of the Bay Rum Building. "Ask the bus driver to let you out at Kingshill Road just past the Domino gas station," Community Foundation executive director Mary Blazine said, "and it's a three-minute easy walk. There is a sign for the Department of Agriculture on the left."
Senior citizens and/or handicapped individuals can arrange for special transportation by calling Dial-A-Ride operator Roy Smith at 693-7600 at least 24 hours in advance. For further information, call the Foundation at 693-9410.
