July 13, 2004 – "Where did all these people come from?" was the question heard on the streets of Christiansted on Saturday night.
There were a lot of people out. Julie Renfro, president of the Christiansted Restaurant and Retail Association and organizer of the Alexander Hamilton Jump Up, said it was the best crowd she has seen in 11 years of working with Jump Ups.
This year the Summer Jump Up took on the name of Alexander Hamilton Jump Up, but Renfro said this didn't mean a change of course for the event. "We have always been about cultural activities," she said. "We have the steelbands, the quelbe, the salsa and the mocko jumbies. We are a family event."
One of the electric moments of the evening was when the members of the eagerly awaited Ricardo Richards Elementary School Guardians of the Mocko Jumbies troupe were suddenly up on their stilts making strides up Queen Crossing Street, a crowd followed along on all sides as the Pandemonics Steelband seemed to catch fire.
Another big draw was a fashion show by Shay's. It had not been advertised, but a crowd found it on King Cross Street.
Renfro said most of the people in the streets were St. Croix residents; however, she added that many tourists plan their visits to the island to coincide with a Jump Up date. She said scholars on island for the Alexander Hamilton conference and Danish tourists added to the crowd.
The scholars had drawn their own crowd at Government House on Friday. Twice organizers had to bring in more chairs as almost a hundred people showed up for that event.
St. Croix has four Jump Ups a year. There is the Valentine Jump Up, the Triathlon Jump Up and the next one coming up, the Holiday Jump Up, which falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving Day.
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