Dec. 14, 2001 – Along with the decorations, steelpan players, carolers and shoppers, an additional miracle on Main Street Friday night was that after a week of steady and often torrential rain, the skies dried up just long enough for revelers to meet, greet, shop and celebrate the season while staying dry.
Ed Thomas, president and chief operating officer of The West Indian Co., said, "We live out west, and it was still raining when we left home."
But by the time Thomas and thousands of others reached the Waterfront and Main Street to celebrate the 10th annual Miracle on Main Street event, sponsored by the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce, the skies had cleared, and not a drop of rain fell until 9:15 p.m. after the official end of the event.
Also among the miracles on Main Street Friday night were Heather Mercer and Dayna Curry, the Christian aid workers who were rescued last month from imprisonment in Afghanistan. The two were seen mingling with the throngs of other visitors and residents. They stopped to chat with sport fisherman Red Bailey and his wife, Laurie, who had recognized them from the television coverage of their rescue.
Mercer and Curry are enjoying a well-deserved vacation on St. Thomas, staying at the home of a "friend of a friend," they told the Baileys.
As promised, a parade of boats decorated with colorful Christmas lights emblazoned the waterfront as they made their way back and forth between the Coast Guard dock and the Edmund Wilmoth Blyden Terminal.
Several retail stores were notably not open, but those that were spilled light onto the streets and saw shoppers looking for those very special gifts for their loved ones.
Larry Braga, owner of Parrot Fish Music, chortled as he showed off the T-shirt he had purchased for "my older sister," with "Going Seanile" printed across the front in sparkly letters, from the store of the same name on the Waterfront.
"It was a fantastic event," John deJongh, chamber president, said. "The chamber looks forward each year to bringing people together. It is less about sales that take place in the stores than about bringing the community together to celebrate the season."
