Season’s Greetings! This is Christie! Since December 1st, I have been posting Christie’s Crucian Gift Guide on our social media accounts with many of my favorite local places to shop where I’ve bought gifts for others, and some for myself! It’s been really fun traveling around, taking photos, and talking with the owners to create the gift guide. I hope it has been interesting and helpful to you. Chris and I hope you have a wonderful holiday, enjoy the colorful lights, eat yummy food, and connect with your friends and family in the heartfelt warmth of the season. Of course, if you are on St. Croix, you are already warm and surrounded by the smiling faces of those of us who are blessed to live here! Happy holidays!
Here is a list of all the shops, artists, and organizations mentioned in the gift guide. They are great local resources for gift ideas during the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and other celebrations!
Reflections of Culture, Music, Mas and Revelry! This vibrant, imaginative theme for the 2022- 2023 Crucian Christmas Festival is the perfect description of what the essence of festival season is all about. After a two-year hiatus, Crucian Christmas Festival returns with in-person events ranging from beauty pageants, a nightly cultural village, parades, a food festival, j’ouvert, street tramps, live musical performances from local and international artists and much more.
Festival events kicked off on December 11th with the highly anticipated Prince & Princess/Duke & Duchess pageants with the Miss St. Croix Pageant to follow on Sunday, December 18th. Pageantry has been a vital piece of Crucian Christmas Festival since its inception in 1952 when the first Miss St. Croix Festival Queen, Jessica Tutein Moolenaar, was crowned. Since then, more than sixty women have held this prominent title with a new queen to be crowned this year.
Another cherished tradition during Crucian Christmas Festival is the cultural village that is held in downtown Frederiksted. This year, the Crucian Christmas Festival 70th Anniversary Village opens on Friday, December 30th with Cultural Night at “Daddy Jones Musical Kingdom,” named in honor of legendary producer Alwyn “Daddy Jones” Baptiste. The full force of Crucian culture will be on display with live musical performances from Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights, Jam Band and other celebrated local talent. With a different theme each night, there’s something for everyone at the festival village including carnival rides and games and several booths serving local foods and drinks like johnny cakes, pates, seasoned rice, conch in butter sauce, coquito, passion fruit juice and more.
For those wanting even more Crucian flavor, the Food, Arts and Crafts Fair takes place on Wednesday, January 4th where the creme de la creme show off their fine culinary skills offering local delicacies like roast pork, stew chicken, fish & fungi, vienna cakes, tamarind stew and other delicious treats. Next up is j’ouvert on January 5th where revelers dance in the streets of Frederiksted from 5am into the late morning hours, ending with a cool dip at Frederiksted Beach. Crucian Christmas Festival culminates with the Children and Adult Parades complete with bright, colorful costumes, lively music, mocko jumbie performances, quadrille dancers and endless energy.
For more information about 2022-2023 Crucian Christmas Festival, visit USVI Festivals Facebook page at www.facebook.com/USVIFestivals.
Article written by Anquanette Gaspard (agaspard@cruzanfoodie.com) for Coldwell Banker, St. Croix Realty
For nearly 50 years, Stanley and the Ten Sleepless Knights (TSK) have serenaded the St. Croix community with the sweet sounds of Christmas quelbe music during the holidays. Over a two-day period, the band kicks off just after a midnight on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning spreading holiday cheer from one end of the island to the next.
TSK is the leading band in the U.S. Virgin Islands that performs the territory’s official music known as quelbe. Also known as scratch band music, this native grassroots form of folk music originated in the USVI and is a form of oral history. It is used to preserve significant historical events, tell stories and jokes (often with a bit of risque undertone) and relay the day-to-day trials and tribulations of island life. This iconic scratch band consists of ten members playing a variety of instruments including a triangle, squash, flute, guitar, steel bass pan, banjo and a conga drum, to name a few. African rhythms and the sound of Danish and British military bands influenced the sound of quelbe music, which has gained great popularity over the past decades.
Band member Kendell Henry shared that the band carried their instruments and walked from house to house when they started back in the 1970s. Today, the band travels across the island on a flatbed truck outfitted with speakers, weaving in and out of neighborhoods playing the sweet sounds of quelbe music. Typically, the serenade route kicks off in Christiansted on Christmas Eve making its way through the neighborhoods as they head east. A long line of vehicles often trails behind the band as they make stops at designated homes to enjoy traditional Christmas refreshments. On Christmas morning, the band heads west to Frederiksted stopping at designated homes once again with the addition of revelry and dancing in the streets. Crowd participation for the serenade has looked different in recent years due to the pandemic. However, the band expects to see the return of some of these traditions this year.
The serenade remains an important part of St. Croix’s culture because it keeps the tradition of quelbe music alive as it was done years ago. In June 2022, band founder Stanley Jacobs received the National Heritage Fellowship Award. As one of the ten fellows (chosen from 180), Jacobs was awarded a $25,000 one-time honorific grant. The National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship is the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts that celebrates artistic excellence and supports continuing contributions to the traditional arts heritage.
If you are considering home ownership on sunny St. Croix, there are some good news! There are a number of wonderful properties available on island now perfect for buyers to make a second home or a forever home! Recently the mortgage rates have been decreasing and The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced in November that for St. Croix the conventional loan limit for one-unit properties will be $1,089,300, and for FHA loans, it would be $472,030 (read more about this here). We encourage you to take a look at our latest Coldwell Banker area reports that compare recent and historical sales activity for all property types; single family homes, condos, and land. Whether you are looking for a move-in ready home, a fixer upper, or a new build, we can help you find properties that meet your needs.
The reports are available below. If you have any questions, please give us a call or email us directly. We would love to work with you find a paradise home on St. Croix. If you are interested in selling your home, we will be happy to work with you in every stage of the selling process!
It’s great news to see the new loan limits for 2023 on St. Croix, USVI for conventional and FHA loans. The caps have raised which means more potential buyers will qualify. With the recently lower mortgages rates (it has for the last 4 weeks!) and the increased loan limits for the upcoming year, this means homes would be more affordable to buyers who qualify.
Conventional Loan Limits for St Croix
Units:
1- $1,089,300
2- $1,394,775
3- $1,685,850
4- $2,095,200
FHA Loan Limits for St. Croix
Units:
1- $472,030
2- $604,400
3- $730,525
4- $907,900
In addition, Freddie Mac reports the following national averages with mortgage rates for the week ending Dec. 8 (according to the recent NAR Magazine):
30-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 6.33%, continuing their fall from previous week’s 6.49% average. Last year at this time, 30-year rates averaged 3.10%.
15-year fixed-rate mortgages: averaged 5.67%, dropping from previous week’s 5.76% average. A year ago, 15-year rates averaged 2.38%.
For more information on mortgages on island, here are some links that will be helpful:
