June 25, 2008 – The St. John July 4th Celebration and Festival schedule is as follows:
The July 4th Celebration Village opens at 7 p.m., Saturday, June 28. The village will honor Irene Scatliffe, who has run a booth in the village for many years and is well known for her chicken and johnny cake.
The village will remain open every night until July 4. The schedule of bands:
June 28 — Love City Pan Dragons, Wrection Band, Cool Session and Jam Tymes
June 29 — Bouncer Band and Sugar Band
June 30 — Express Band and Jam Tymes
July 1 — Daddy Jones and Crew, and Red Hot Flames of Antigua
July 2 — Pan in Motion, Spectrum, Carami, and Cool Session
July 3 — St. Thomas All Starts, JDPP Jammerz, Shurwayne Winchester and Traffik, and Burning Flames
July 4 — Ah We Band, Taxik, and Claudette Peters and Krosfyah
On Thursday, July 3, St. John will celebrate Cultural Day in Cruz Bay Park. While cultural items and food will be for sale from 11 a.m., the program will begins 3 p.m. The program will start with the blowing of the conch and music. It will feature plays and reenactments by St. John residents Clarence Cuthbertson, Gilbert Sprauve and Laurel Hewitt-Sewer.
Quadrille dancers, the Love City Leapers and a Tortola jump rope group will perform. The Cultural Day wraps up with a torch light parade through the streets of Cruz Bay, which will begin at 6:30 p.m.
Also, at 10 p.m., on Thursday, July 3, the local production company, Soulbashment, will hold a soca concert at Winston Wells Ballfield.
Destra Garcia, a soca artist from Trinidad, is the headliner of Girl Fete 2008: Ladies Rule. She will be backed by Atlantik Band, also from Trinidad. Also performing will be Tizzy from Antigua and Sanell Dempster. Tickets cost $30 in advance. Door prices are not yet set. Buy advance tickets on St. John at W&W Fast Food. On St. Thomas, buy them at Fashion Source in Tutu Park Mall, Urban Threadz, International Record and Tapes, or Native Son offices at Red Hook and the Charlotte Amalie Waterfront. Tickets are available on St. Croix at Mr. Dollar in Sunny Isle and on Tortola at the Native Son offices in Road Town and West End.
J'ouvert will begin at 4 a.m., Friday, July 4, and run through the streets of Cruz Bay. Any band that wants to participate is welcome. The annual parade takes to the streets of Cruz Bay at 11 a.m., July 4. It starts at the park ballfield with St. John realtor Miles Stair as the parade marshal.
Fireworks will begin at 9 p.m., over Cruz Bay Harbor. Moonlight Fireworks will do the 20-minute program.
It will all wrap up at 1 p.m., Saturday, July 5, with a beach jam at Oppenheimer Beach. The band El A Kru from Antigua will play.
