Crucians love their Christmas Festival Parade, and so do visitors to St. Croix – so it’s a good thing that it’s such a grand and massive event, with plenty for everybody.
For the passengers of Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas, coming off the ship Saturday into the colorful spectacle that Frederiksted had become was a bonus on a Caribbean vacation. Umberto and Barbara Monarca of Frederick, Md., didn’t know the festival was going on, but they looked delighted with all the sights and sounds of the four-hour-plus parade.
"It’s wonderful," they both said, simultaneously.
Doug and Debbie Goodman have been vacationing on St. Thomas, but they took the ferry to St. Croix for the parade and said it was far more colorful than the parades they typically have in their hometown of Redding, Cal. Bruce and Ruth Ruddekow of Pennsylvania said the particularly loved the mocko jumbies.
And Connie Miller of Indiana, who has been visiting friends on island while searching for a place to retire, called the parade "awesome." She added that of all the Caribbean islands she has visited, St. Croix is far and away her favorite.
But the first-time visitors weren’t enjoying the parade any more than the locals, who lined the route by the thousands to watch all the favorites – the parade troupes in their elabotate, colorful costumes, the festival royalty led by Queen Taryn Mashburn, baton twirlers and flag spinners and dancers, and bands.
If the Rising Stars’ double trailer was rocking as it traversed the parade route, steel pan music blasting out into the streets, who could blame every face in the crowd for smiling?
From just before noon until well after 5 p.m. the parade wound its way down from the Claude O. Markoe Elementary School past the post office, down Fisher Street to King, then down King Street to the reviewing stand in front of the fort. And every step of the way was lined wth people, sometimes many bodies deep, while the smell of local foods wafted through the warm air.
The parade proceeded at its own pace, sometimes moving briskly, but mostly starting and stopping as groups along the path stopped and performed. But if the crowd minded the periodic delays, they didn’t show it. If it gave them an extra five or ten minutes to appreciate the St. Croix Majorettes or the dancing of the girls in the "Wonderful St. Croix Schools" entry, well, that seemed fine to everybody.
And at least one parade performer used those breaks to his advantage. Kevin Swanston of the Lockheart Association Troupe was sprawled in the middle of the street waiting for the word that it was time to start dancing again.
He’s a veteran of the parade, he said, taking part in it since he was 12. Kevin said he is the reigning Mr. Virgin Islands and has been around the block enough – literally in the parade’s case – to not let the long wait bother him.
"Some people get all annoyed when the parade starts and stops," he said from his seat in the pavement. "I just wait and save my energy."
