April 30, 2009 — In anticipation of J'ouvert and other Carnival parades this week, St. Thomians and tourists alike stocked up on delicious island food and drink Wednesday at the annual Cultural Fair in and around Emancipation Garden Park.
Vendors representing individuals and groups served up the flavors that make these islands unique — everything from goat water to tamarind sweets, stew whelks to bull foot soup.
Unique among the boiling pots and sizzling fry pans were booths for health and self-sufficiency. Ras Bobby barely kept up with the lines of locals snatching up herbal remedies for everything from a sore back and swelling to unmentionable disputes with one's bowels.
West End farmers also sold and displayed their organic harvest of everything from legal herbs and savory spices to pumpkins the "size of truck tires," according to an enthusiastic man drinking maubi near the post office.
Leading the farmers were the enthusiastic green-thumbed youth of Glady's A. Abraham Elementary School's Garden Club, which has "a bunch" of members, according to 11-year-old treasurer Thaina Garcia.
She and others sold pepper plants, cashews, bamboo and many other green things in between the squalls that made the morning interesting and damp.
Emancipation Garden and the rest of downtown will clear out Thursday to make way for the annual J'ouvert romp, which begins sometime before or after sunrise and heads east to Carnival Village until … well, until it ends.
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