Fireworks will light up the night sky over St. John on Thursday and Friday, April 27 and 28, and they have no connection with the V.I. Carnival festivities under way across the waters on St. Thomas.
A release from V.I. Fire Services Tuesday said the agency had issued blasting permits for fireworks to be set off Thursday at 9:45 p.m. from a thousand feet offshore of Caneel Bay Resort and Friday at about the same time just off the Westin Resort.
According to Caneel Bay general manager Brian Young, the Thursday display scheduled for his vicinity of the island is "for a private function." He added, a bit wistfully, "It's supposed to be a surprise."
The resort is noted for providing privacy to its guests, so there was always the chance that the intended honorees might not read about it in the papers or hear about it on the radio news, even if much of the general public did.
As for the fireworks planned for Friday, Westin sales and marketing director Bill Thompson said they've been arranged to entertain a large corporate incentive group from GE Capital that's staying at the resort this week. The guests "will view the show from the beach," he said, adding that the Westin has arranged such displays a few times previously, working through a licensed fireworks company.
Fire Marshal Glenn Francis was as good as his word in releasing the information to the media after having been questioned by the Source on April 12 concerning an extravagant display of pyrotechnics in Charlotte Amalie harbor the night before. Hundreds of people on St. Thomas had seen the sky lights, but even the following morning the public had no information on what the occasion had been for the fireworks.
It turned out that they had been arranged privately as entertainment for a dinner at a restaurant overlooking the harbor that was part of a corporate incentive excursion for Mitsubishi Motors employees.
Francis noted at the time that privately contracted fireworks were nothing new, particularly at the large resorts, and said nothing in the V.I. Code requires advance notice to the public of such displays. However, he added, "They will be announced from now on."
Already announced, meanwhile, are the fireworks that traditionally attract thousands of viewers to downtown Charlotte Amalie. The traditional end-of-Carnival display in Charlotte Amalie harbor is set to blast off at 9 p.m. on Saturday, May 6.
