St. John’s Festival Village is named "Wadesville" in honor of Deputy Public Works Commissioner Ira Wade; however, Wade deflected all the praised that came his way onto others.
In his remarks at Wednesday’s Village opening, he gave credit to his crew for all their hard work, to the Festival Committee for agreeing 99 percent of the time, and especially to the Love City Pan Dragons for their talent.
“If you invest time and a little bit of money…that’s St. John’s future in front of you,” he said as the Pan Dragons pinged out Bach’s “Toccata” and “Fugue in D Minor” on their pans.
The Pan Dragons entertained before and throughout the opening ceremony.
Wade, who volunteered for many years with the Pan Dragons, said he moved to St. John 22 years ago to retire after a career in the military, but he was here about two weeks when 1989’s Hurricane Hugo put him back to work.
“That was the last two weeks I had off,” he said.
Speaker after speaker had nice words to say about Wade.
“If there’s a hurricane, Ira’s going to be there. If there’s a disaster, Ira’s going to be there,” Master of Ceremonies Alecia M. Wells said to the dozens of people gathered in for the opening.
Cruz Bay has two festival villages. The one located in the parking lot across from the post office is for adults. The Rotary Club of St. John has a smaller version for children situated adjacent to the Creek bulkhead near to V.I. National Park ball field.
“This is our contribution to the community,” Rotary Club President Bruce Munro said.
The Children’s Village closes Sunday night, while the adult version is open through Monday night.
The Village opening brought out both visitors and local residents to sample the food and drink from about 20 booths.
“We’ve been doing this every year for the past 30 years,” Kishann Duncan said, busy taking orders at the booth.
She’s a member of the Hodge family, and she and Sylvia Hodge were running the Hodge Sisters booth.
Some repeat visitors said they planned their vacations to coincide with Festival.
“We came to enjoy local customs,” Jack Dufrane of San Francisco said.
Chantal Cruz and Tracy DeWolf just got off from their jobs at Jewels store in Mongoose Junction.
“We’re checking it out before we catch the ferry,” DeWolf said, adding they were heading home to St. Thomas.
Ina Lee was chatting up friends as she waited to take her place on the stage wearing her Ms. Senior Virgin Islands 2009.
“I’m still here,” she said, celebrating her 78 years.
Festivities continue with music in the Village through Monday night. A cultural day planned for Sunday has a location change. Since its usual spot in Cruz Bay Park isn’t available due the reconstruction project, Wells said it would be held in conjunction with St. Ursula’s Episcopal Church 9 a.m. service.
Events wrap up Monday with a parade through the streets of Cruz Bay at 11 a.m. and the fireworks over Cruz Bay Harbor at 9 p.m.
