Starting Monday, for the eighth straight year, the St. John Festival – also known as the island's Fourth of July Celebration – will have something neither of the territory's other two carnivals has: a locally organized and operated Children's Village.
The project was conceived and brought into being by the St. John Community Foundation, which continues to be the main mover. This year, foundation executive director Mary Blazine said, two other groups are involved – Pine Peace School and the Family Career Community Leaders of America group at the Julius E. Sprauve School.
The idea came about eight years ago, Blazine said, because in the festival programing at that point, "there was nothing for the children. The carnival village just revolves around drinking and eating and music so loud your ears hurt. We thought it was important to give the children a place to be, with things to do."
Located in the V.I. National Park Visitor Center parking lot under the "tourist corral" tents as well as in the open air, the village is operated as a drug- and alcohol-free environment. It will be open nightly from 6 to 10 p.m. Monday through July 3.
Blazine noted that while the sponsoring organizations will have greeters and overseers on the premises at all times, the Children's Village is not a "baby-sitting" operation, and small children should be accompanied by adult supervisors or older siblings while in the area.
The kids' village this year will feature games of chance and skill such as a wheel of fortune, "strong man" test, bullseye crossbow, basketball toss, balloon darts and ring toss. For the smaller children, Blazine said, "there's a little duck pond where they fish and catch little fish and ducks, and everybody wins a prize."
Cold soft drinks, cotton candy and popcorn will be available, and the Sprauve FCCLA students will be selling chocolate bars as a separate fund-raising project.
The revenues from the tickets sold for the games and refreshments will be divided among the three sponsoring organizations, Blazine said, and the Community Foundation will redistribute its part of the proceeds in the form of "mini-grants to school groups and other youth organizations on St. John throughout the year."
She said the village operation relies on "incredible volunteer work and the many businesses that give us donations." Major sponsors of this year's Children's Village are The West Indian Company Ltd., V.I. Telephone Corp., Caribbean Villas of St. John, AT&T of the Virgin Islands and Baker Magras & Associates.
This year, the undertaking has added an adults-only component. "For the first time, we are having bingo for the adults – for ages 18 and older," Blazine said. The foundation has secured the requisite permit from the Licensing and Consumer Affairs Department, she said, and games will be called continuously during the hours the Children's Village is open.
Also for adults, there'll be a raffle for a donated week's stay at Villa Claudia, a luxury rental property on the island. Raffle tickets, priced at $5, will be available any time the village is open, and the winner will be drawn at the end.
And, oh, yes, the village will feature a clown to entertain the kids. The person behind the funny face and fright wig will be none other than Blazine herself. "I couldn't get anybody else to do it this year," she said cheerfully, "but it's working out perfectly. My outfits are taken care of for a week."

Delivering a festival on time and within budget is the challenge facing Leona Smith, chair of the St. John Festival & Cultural Organization, the entity which produces the island's annual Fourth of July Celebration.
Like her counterparts for St. Thomas's V.I. Carnival and St. Croix's Crucian Christmas Festival, Smith finds herself running the annual event with less government money this fiscal year than last. In the case of St. John, the budget was cut by a third – to $50,000 from $75,000.
But after a little adjustment to the schedule and a lot of advance work securing private-sector sponsors, Smith said she's confident the celebration will break even.
"The only decision weighted by financial concerns was to shorten the village to six days," she said. This year's village, honoring Harry Daniel, will open on Thursday, instead of the usual Monday before the week of the Fourth of July finale.
Smith said she gets her work done with the help of 15 die-hard volunteers, some of whom have been helping put together what's traditionally been called the Fourth of July Celebration for more than 20 years.
Half a dozen committee members are responsible for overseeing the prince and princess pageant, the queen show, the festival bicycle race, the village operations, Pan-O-Rama and the fireworks. In addition to chairing the overall festival committee, Smith also organizes the food fair and the Fourth of July parade.
Private and/or not-for-profit promoters mobilize their own resources and produce other official festival events – this year, the Calypso Show, the Boat Show and Boat Race, Children's Village and the Emancipation Day cultural program. Some rely on corporate sponsor; the children's program is presented by the St. John Community Foundation in cooperation with other community entities.
The V.I. National Park puts on the July 3 Cultural Day program in Cruz Bay. Park ranger Denise Georges, who also organizes the annual Annaberg Cultural Fair for Black History Month each February, says she held the first Cultural Day observance on Emancipation Day in 1996 as a way to remind people of the holiday's historic significance.
"It's really for emancipation and to remind people of the hardship. I really think we've lost the meaning of our celebration," Georges said.
Overall, committee volunteers start their planning for the next festival almost as soon as the last rocket fades from the Fourth of July sky on the one before, Smith said. Monthly meetings begin in August or September. By April, the committee is getting together once a week.
Having volunteers coordinate their own events makes it possible for Smith to concentrate on the ones she runs, she said. "It frees me a little, but I still have to be there to make sure" that everything runs smoothly, she said.
And when that's the case, the other volunteers help out around the concession stand.
Two of this year's early events showed signs of the new financial order – a listing of sponsors printed on the program booklets and proudly announced by event organizers.
The solicitation approach, Smith said, was to target potential sponsors and "write them a letter and give them a schedule. . . and ask them which events they wanted to sponsor."
The solicitation is ongoing, right down to the wire. This year, the committee has to cover the cost of the new stage purchased for the calypso show, prince and princess pageant and queen competition. And then, there's the fireworks.
The cost of the big bangs is pegged at $26,500 for this year's festival. So far, $10,000 has been raised, half of it sponsorship by Southern Energy Inc., the administration's proposed private-sector partner of the Water and Power Authority.
"We could use a few more sponsors," said Mary Hildebrand of the St. John Accommodations Council, who has been coordinating the fireworks finale of the Fourth of July Celebration for the last five years. She said solicitation from local businesses is continuing. "What we have to offer sponsors is good placement of their company banners in the waterfront area," she said, "and we still have some radio spot time."

Editor's note: For a separate story on St. John's Children's Carnival, click on Things to do.

The National Park Service took the first steps over the weekend in what will be a gradual move of offices and public reception and display operations to the new V.I. National Park Visitor Center in Cruz Bay.
As of 8 a.m. Sunday, visitors were welcomed to the reception area at the main entrance of the two-story creamy yellow facility with the burnt orange roof that is the most imposing waterfront structure now greeting ferry passengers from St. Thomas as they approach St. John.
The reception area features what park ranger Pat Dinisio described as a "huge desk" and initially has been stocked with the brochures, maps, postcards and bookstore materials that had been on display temporarily in recent months at the Morris F. DeCastro Clinic. The new facility is open daily from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Telephone service is not scheduled to be connected until July 1. Meantime, however, the ranger on duty can be reached at the cellular number 690-2497.
Dinisio said the new space is "big and airy, with a high ceiling and ceiling fans, lots of natural wood." The new exhibits to be installed are still being developed, she said, but some of the displays from the old visitor center may be moved in temporarily.
Also, she said, "The bookstore has a lot of new stuff on the way."
R.W. Jenkins, the park chief of maintenance and engineering, said other operations and offices will be moved into the building gradually in the next few weeks. "By the end of July we will be all the way in," he said.

In a pageant that proved the saying "Rain don' stop de carnival," 17-year-old Suzette Kelly emerged Saturday night as the queen of St. John Festival 2000.
Kelly won the judges over at the Winston Wells Ball Park as she and two other contestants braved an unexpected deluge midway through a four-hour contest.
The new queen formally began her reign along with the festival prince and princess, siblings Liyah and Imri Tonge, at the coronation ceremony Sunday afternoon in Cruz Bay Park.
In addition to taking the queen title, Kelly also won Miss Photogenic, Best Talent and Best Evening Wear honors in the competition. Anesta Charlemagne was judged Miss Popularity, and crowd favorite Latoya Browne won Best International Wear and Miss Congeniality.
The sudden cloudburst just after the end of the swimwear competition left many in the audience wishing they, too, were wearing bathing suits. The members of P'Your Passion, the house band for the show, tried to protect their music equipment from the water as spectators rushed for cover and the air hung heavy with the smell of wet hairspray.
Backstage, dry but hemmed in by shower dodgers, the contestants and their chaperones waited to see what Mother Nature would do. Queen Committee coordinator Nancy Powell and St. John Festival & Cultural Organization Committee chair Leona Smith held a pow-wow on the sodden stage with parents and chaperones and decided the show would go on.
Most of those in the crowd waited patiently, many lining up for fried chicken and johnny cakes at the concession operated by the festival committee. After a 90-minute timeout for mopping up and making electrical checks, the house lights dimmed and the competition resumed with the international segment.
A sizable segment of the audience cheered as Charlemagne appeared from backstage dressed in a cutaway ruffled samba shirt and bolero top with orange, yellow and fuchsia sleeves. Browne followed with her winning portrayal of a Pacific island maiden entering womanhood through a native ceremony. Kelly paid tribute to Gambia in a fitted shirt of swirling African prints, an elaborate bronze neck ring and a towering headpiece.
The rest of the show followed quickly with few interruptions. Kelly played the winning talent entry in pajamas, as someone rising from sleep to give thanks in song for a new day. Browne tap danced in a mini-skirt while performing magic tricks. Charlemagne donned white gloves to accentuate the gestures of an interpretative dance before a giant valentine card featuring portraits of her mother and father.
Rose pink, shimmering sky blue and burnt orange made up the colors of the evening wear presentation. To capture this segment, Kelly appeared in a floor-length sleeveless fish-tail gown encrusted with crystals from waist to hem.

Airport blanked Innovative Communication Corp. 4-0 Saturday evening in second-round action of the Government and Industrial Coed Slowpitch Softball League Farrington Division at Emile Griffith Park.
ICC, the division's regular season champions, ended the season in an uproar. For finishing first, the team got the first-round bye. ICC fans, wearing lime green T-shirts, stayed through a fifth inning rain delay. However, ICC got off to a cold start in the first game of the second round, clearly missing absent slugger Athniel "Bobby" Thomas.
Airport pitcher Dale Rhymer continued his dominance on the mound. On Friday, after taking a ball off his right pitching hand that split a fingernail, he gave up only one run for the rest of that game as his team defeated WAPA to advance to this series. Rhymer has not allowed an earned run in two playoff games. He not only kept ICC scoreless Saturday but did not even allow a runner to reach third, giving up eight scattered hits in seven innings.
ICC pitcher Henry "Trouble" Richards also pitched well, allowing no earned runs for the game. However, ICC made six costly errors defensively that cost the the team all of the Airport runs.
Airport scored first in the second inning. Terry Browne reached on a fielding error by ICC first baseman Antonio "Pumpkin" Lewis. Rhymer then reached on another fielding error by ICC shortstop Richard Penn, and Browne scored on another error, this time a throwing one on the same play by ICC left fielder Robert Crossley.
The second run came in the sixth inning, thanks to another throwing error by Crossley, and Airport padded the lead with two more runs in the seventh.

National Guard prevailed over Health, 12-11, Friday night in the start of the second round of the Watlington Division of the Government and Industrial Coed Slowpitch Softball League at Emile Griffith Park.
In the first game of the best-of-three series, the Guardsmen held Health scoreless for the first three innings, erupting for five runs in the bottom of the third to take a 6-0 lead.
Kenneth Alexander reached on an error by Health second baseman James Petty Jr. to lead off the inning. Calvin Jackson followed with a bloop double in left field. Kareem Henley and Alford Richards continued the double hit parade. National Guard pitcher Gail Joseph reached on a fielder's choice. Joseph then scored the fifth run of the inning.
Health came back with three runs in the top of the fourth. Cyril "Zamba" Andrews tripled in Petty and Morris Potter to start the rally. He later scored the third run of the inning.
The guardsmen scored a run in the bottom of the fourth inning to extend their lead to 7-3, but their defense abandoned them in the top of the fifth, as they made four costly errors that helped Health score four unearned runs. From then on, it was a see-saw contest.
Guard tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth to go back on top, 8-7. Health answered with three more runs in the top of the sixth to retake the lead, 10-8. The guardsmen again scored a run in the bottom of the sixth to close the margin to 10-9. Health scored a run in the top of the seventh to take a two-run lead.
With one out, Joseph singled to left field. Denise Dawson pinch ran for Joseph. Gilbert Henley singled up the middle as Dawson used her speed to motor over to third base. Jason Lewis reached on an error by the Health shortstop that scored Dawson. Henley later scored on a fielder's choice to tie the game at 11-11.
Health pitcher Andrews then loaded the bases by intentionally walking Patrick Farrell to face Margo Rodriquez. She popped out to the shortstop Potter for the second out of the inning. However, Andrews then walked Alexander on four pitches to end the game.

Following through on its threat to take over the primary role of enforcing federal solid waste laws in the territory, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding hearings this week to decide the issue.
Tuesday on St. Thomas and Wednesday on St. Croix, the EPA will hold public hearings to discuss its preliminary decision to disapprove the territory’s landfill program and assume a greater role in enforcing federal solid waste laws in the islands.
According to an EPA statement, the agency is making the move because the V.I. government has not adopted the necessary solid-waste regulations or allocated enough funding and staff to deal with solid waste issues. After EPA officials considered the comments of those testifying at the two hearings, they will decide whether formally to disapprove the territory’s program and assume a greater role in enforcing landfill regulations.
The action reflects statements made by its V.I. coordinator, Jim Casey, at a Senate committee meeting in February. Casey told members of the Planning and Environmental Protection Committee that after years of the local government failing to manage solid-waste facilities according to agreements with the federal government, the EPA was set to declare the V.I. landfill program unsatisfactory. The preliminary decision was made May 8.
The problems are not new. In 1993, the V.I. government applied to the EPA for approval of a solid-waste program. According to the EPA, the territory was advised that to receive full approval, the Virgin Islands would have to have regulations comparable to or stricter than federal guidelines in place by May 1996. Additionally, EPA called for the local government to commit staff and financial resources to operate the territory’s two main landfills in accordance with federal standards.
Seven years later, the Planning and Natural Resources Department has yet to submit an acceptable proposal.
Meanwhile, because of threats to human health and the environment, the EPA in April ordered the cleanup of the Bovoni landfill on St. Thomas. The order, issued with the consent of the local government, was one step short of the agency taking unilateral action to force compliance.
The St. Thomas hearing will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Curriculum Center in Anna's Retreat. The St. Croix session Wednesday will begin at 7 p.m. at the St. Croix Curriculum Center.

Following through on its threat to take over the primary role of enforcing federal solid waste laws in the territory, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding hearings this week to decide the issue.
Tuesday on St. Thomas and Wednesday on St. Croix, the EPA will hold public hearings to discuss its preliminary decision to disapprove the territory’s landfill program and assume a greater role in enforcing federal solid waste laws in the islands.
According to an EPA statement, the agency is making the move because the V.I. government has not adopted the necessary solid-waste regulations or allocated enough funding and staff to deal with solid waste issues. After EPA officials considered the comments of those testifying at the two hearings, they will decide whether formally to disapprove the territory’s program and assume a greater role in enforcing landfill regulations.
The action reflects statements made by its V.I. coordinator, Jim Casey, at a Senate committee meeting in February. Casey told members of the Planning and Environmental Protection Committee that after years of the local government failing to manage solid-waste facilities according to agreements with the federal government, the EPA was set to declare the V.I. landfill program unsatisfactory. The preliminary decision was made May 8.
The problems are not new. In 1993, the V.I. government applied to the EPA for approval of a solid-waste program. According to the EPA, the territory was advised that to receive full approval, the Virgin Islands would have to have regulations comparable to or stricter than federal guidelines in place by May 1996. Additionally, EPA called for the local government to commit staff and financial resources to operate the territory’s two main landfills in accordance with federal standards.
Seven years later, the Planning and Natural Resources Department has yet to submit an acceptable proposal.
Meanwhile, because of threats to human health and the environment, the EPA in April ordered the cleanup of the Bovoni landfill on St. Thomas. The order, issued with the consent of the local government, was one step short of the agency taking unilateral action to force compliance.
The St. Thomas hearing will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Curriculum Center in Anna's Retreat. The St. Croix session Wednesday will begin at 7 p.m. at the St. Croix Curriculum Center.

In a courtroom decorated in bright blue and white bows and overflowing with judges, lawyers, other legal system personnel, family, friends and at least a quorum of senators, attorney Rhys S. Hodge was sworn in Friday as a judge of the Territorial Court.
Hodge, the first naturalized citizen to sit on the bench in the territory, credited the late Judge Almeric L. Christian, for whom he clerked in the late '70s, as his role model, saying, "I have learned more from him than any other man."
Gov. Charles W. Turnbull, Judge Ishmael A. Meyers, Senate President Vargrave Richards and former Lt. Gov. Derek Hodge spoke at the ceremony, offering advice "now that you're on the other side of the bench" and many kinds words.
Derek Hodge, noting Rhys Hodge's Anguilla birthplace, said he had to tell a story. "Anguilla used to be a simple island," the former lieutenant governor said, with "none of the big hotels like now." He said Rhys as a boy "was given a bike, and he traded it in for a donkey!" Rhys' thinking, he said, was that on the donkey, as the animal knew its way, he could read while he rode.
Presiding Judge Maria M. Cabret administered the swearing-in oath with assistance by the new judge's wife, Jean, who presented him with his gown, and his son Jerome, who handed him his gavel. As Hodge is the father of four young children, Richards suggested he might like to take the gavel home with him. The other three children, Regine, Joseph and Larise Joasil, sat in the front row of the courtroom.
Hodge moved from Anguilla to St. Thomas in the '60s and attended the then-College of the Virgin Islands. He went on to get his bachelor's degree from Kansas State University, then returned to St. Thomas, where he managed the Besabe Bakery and managed to marry co-worker Jean Dalmida. They moved to New Jersey where Hodge got his law degree at Rutgers in 1977. He returned to St. Thomas, began clerking for Judge Christian and went into private practice in 1979.
He will assume his judicial duties immediately. Territorial Court on St. Thomas has been functioning in recent weeks with only three judges, Meyers, Brenda Hollar and Ive A. Swan, with two vacancies on the bench. Hodge's nomination was approved by the Senate in March. Assistant U.S. Attorney Audrey Thomas-Francis, approved by the Senate last week, is expected to be sworn in soon to fill the other vacancy.
Hodge is a past president of the V.I. Bar Association and a member of the National Bar Association. He has long been active in community affairs, serving for many years on the boards of the local councils of the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of America and of the Montessori School on St. Thomas.

Airport moved on and WAPA went home as the two teams battled for their playoff lives Friday evening in the Government and Industrial Coed Slowpitch Softball League’s Farrington division first round action.
Airport cleared their way to the second round by defeating the Water and Power Authority 4-3.
Airport pitcher Dale Rhymer took a ball off his hand in the top of the first inning that split his fingernail and delayed the game for several minutes as he got first-aid. WAPA scored two unearned runs to take an early lead. Rhymer settled down in keeping WAPA scoreless for the next four innings.
Airport quickly answered, as center fielder Kenneth Smith homered off the left field light pole in the bottom of the first inning to tie the score at two. WAPA pitcher Anson Larcheveaux also kept his opponents scoreless but for the next five innings.
WAPA scored another unearned run in the top of the sixth inning to take the lead 3-2. Aaron Shelford doubled and then scored on an error by Airport’s Laura Isaac.
In the seventh inning, Airport rallied when Ashton "Minus" Frett singled to lead off the inning. Isaac then walked with one out. The next batter, Parker Drew, grounded out to second for the second out of the inning. Clemille Gibbs then singled Frett in to tie the ball game at three.
Remembering his home run in the first inning, Larcheveaux intentionally walked Smith to load the bases. The next hitter, Terry Browne, drilled a 2-1 pitch just out of the reach of first baseman Akima Samuel to drive in Isaac and end the game.
Airport won the series 2-1 and advanced to round-two, where they will face Innovative Communication Corp. on Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
Of their next opponent, Airport, the defending champs, believe they can beat ICC. "We had them 5-1 and let them get away," said Airport’s Smith.