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.
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:
Celebrate, hydrate and rejuvenate at the 2022 Crucian Coconut Festival on St. Croix! Hosted by St. Croix Farmers in Action, Inc., the Crucian Coconut Festival is focused on identifying and highlighting ways to reignite St. Croix’s economy with the help of coconuts. This two-day event offers a rich, cultural display of this cherished Caribbean fruit while showcasing the benefits of the coconut and coconut farming. Filled with numerous activities for the entire family, attendees can enjoy educational presentations, cooking demos, activities, games and live local music at this year’s festival. Coconuts create a wide assortment of byproducts that are used and enjoyed by people worldwide and is one of the few fruits in the world that has that capability.
The Crucian Coconut Festival does more than shine a light on coconuts. This event brings the community together in a safe, family friendly environment to support entrepreneurs, small businesses and farmers. The expansion of last year’s festival included the addition of the fine art exhibit complete with live entertainment on the opening night. This year will see a continuation of the art exhibit, showcasing visual art pieces by more than 30 artists of varying disciplines across the Virgin Islands, including woodworkers, painters and steel sculpture artists. The newest addition to the festival lineup is the Music and Fashion Show produced by local clothing brand, UpperClass OG. The show will feature some of the territory’s top local brands as they walk the runway and show off the creative spirit of our Virgin Islands.
Thanks to several vendors that will be in attendance, there will be an abundance of coconut-inspired crafts, local foods and treats available for purchase. The onsite greenhouse will host aquaponic tours that show how produce is grown using this fish powered food production system. There will also be a host of interactive educational presentations about the coconut as well as a family activity center with craft baskets and bags filled with coconut learning activities. Popular competitions will return such as the coconut jelly scooping contest and coconut husking competition where speed is the name of the game.
The Crucian Coconut Festival will kick off with the Fine Art Exhibit at Estate Bethlehem Sugar Factory on Friday, December 2nd from 4pm to 9pm; $25 entry fee for the opening night. An extension of the Fine Art Exhibit is the music & fashion show on Saturday, December 3rd from 7pm to 10pm; $15 entry fee per attendee. The main festival event will take place on Saturday, December 3rd and Sunday, December 4th from 11am to 6pm; $10 entry fee for all attendees. For more information, visit www.cruciancoconutfestival.net or call 340.332.7228.
Article written by Anquanette Gaspard (agaspard@cruzanfoodie.com) for Coldwell Banker, St. Croix Realty
Great news for the island, great news for Christiansted! The Protestant Cay redevelopment projects has been in the news throughout the year. Last week, The VI Consortium reported that the previous owners of the Protestant Cay property on St. Croix, known as Hotel on the Cay, have reached a deal with the Government of the Virgin Islands and the new operators, which will allow the renovation and expansion of the 7.2-acre iconic hotel property.
To illustrate the scope of the project, take a look at these notable articles:
“New Operators of Hotel on the Cay Settles With Former Owners; Lawmakers Impressed With Development Plans” – VI Consortium, November 17, 2022
“Protestant Cay Redevelopment Floated To Senate” – St Croix Source, November 15, 2022
“Bryan announces $25M lease to redevelop Hotel on The Cay property” – Virgin Islands Daily News, October 25, 2022
“$55 million project to transform St. Croix’s Hotel on the Cay” – Caribbean Journal, August 19, 2022
“Developer Eyes 2024 Completion for New $55 Million Hotel on the Cay; 115-Room Facility to be Renamed Christiansted Harbor Resort Hotel & Marina” – Virgin Islands Consortium, May 5, 2021
