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Charlotte Amalie
Thursday, March 28, 2024
HomeNewsLocal newsAnnual Crucian Coconut Festival Set for Sunday

Annual Crucian Coconut Festival Set for Sunday

Contestants dig into the coconut jelly scoop competition during 2018's Crucian Coconut Festival. (Submitted photo)
Contestants dig into the coconut jelly scoop competition during 2018’s Crucian Coconut Festival. (Submitted photo)

The coconut is one of the Caribbean’s royal treasures. And Sunday, St. Croix Farmers in Action Inc., will display new ways to appreciate and share all the coconut has to offer at the Crucian Coconut Festival at the Estate Bethlehem Sugar Factory.

The festival was started in 2016 to reignite St. Croix’s economy with the help of coconuts. Coconuts remain, one of the few natural products that create a wide range of byproducts that the entire world loves and enjoys.

The event will begin with a series of three obstacle courses starting at 7 a.m.

“We have sent out letters to all the gym teachers at the middle schools and high schools” said Percival Tahema Edwards, president of the St. Croix Farmers in Action Inc. “We have three categories for the course, 12 and under, 13 to 18, and 18 and up.”

The main festival kicks off at 11 a.m. with education, activities, games, music and more. There will be cooking demonstrations by local chefs, horseback and donkey rides, local coconut crafts and treats, coconut spirits, coconut bowling, moko jumbies and the annual coconut jelly scoop competition.

Admission is $7 for adults and $5 for children and senior citizens.

Music will be provided by Gyasi Clarke, Digital Band and Young Gifted and Talented Band, among others.

“The site is prepared and ready to welcome the community,” Edwards said. “All over the world, there is research coming out about all the benefits and uses of the coconut. I want to engage the island to really see the opportunity we have in the coconut as a key role in our economy.”

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