The United States Virgin Islands capped off its month-long St. Thomas Carnival with a parade, fireworks, and a “last lap” starting on Saturday and extending into the early hours of Sunday morning.
This year’s Carnival theme was “Culture to the Extreme,” which means people were encouraged to “get as much of their culture into the parade as possible,” said Carnival Public Relations Officer Jerain Flemming.
A cultural aspect of the Carnival that seemed to be taken to the extreme was its commercial culture, with some of the parade participants decked out head to toe in sponsors for products such as Grind Hard Endurance Drink and Zumba Fitness.
“We have sponsors as well: It’s the same, just that theirs are bigger,” remarked Sea Cows Bay resident Kimberly Malone, who went to the parade on Saturday.
One Virgin Islands representative in the Carnival parade was Miss Jr. BVI Tichina Penn, who waved to the crowd from a black Nissan convertible.
Usually it’s Miss BVI who represents the territory in the parade, said Ms. Penn, but she was taking up the Virgin Islands banner this year.
“Since I’m the first Miss Jr. BVI, they thought it was appropriate for me to take part in our sister island’s celebrations in St. Thomas,” she said.
Topping off the parade was not only fireworks and a last lap, but also the so-called “fight of the century” between boxers Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquio in Las Vegas, with people able to witness Mr. Mayweather extend his professional record to 48-0 on projector screens at the Carnival village.
A major positive for the Carnival this year was the lack of major violent incidents, which have plagued festivities in the past.
According to the Virgin Islands Daily News, police shot and killed a man outside Carnival Village last year; there was at least one shooting a day during the festivities’ final week in 2013; and police had to shut down the J’ouvert early because of violence in 2013, 2011 and 2009.
USVI Senator Kenneth Gittens – also the vice chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security, Justice and Safety – attributed the increased safety to the cooperation between federal and local law enforcement.
“This was a prime example of what could happen in our community when there is collaboration between law enforcement entities,” said Mr. Gittens in a press release on Monday. “We saw a unified uniform presence in and around the Carnival activities and we saw some of the stepped up initiatives at the ports, which resulted in an atmosphere that made our residents and visitors comfortable as they saw an environment that was free of violence other than a few minor isolated incidents.”
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