Adina Penn gripped the handle of a folding knife as she trimmed excess straw from a hat she was almost finished weaving.
It didn’t matter that dozens of people circulated around her or that a nearby band filled the air with bright Caribbean-style Christmas music.
Ms. Penn simply sat behind her wares, working and letting her art speak for itself.
She was among several vendors at the Virgin Islands Cultural Food Fair, Book and Art Expo on Friday at the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park in Road Town.
After a couple rain showers in the morning, even Premier Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley was drawn to the festivities in the afternoon, stepping out of the shade dressed in official VI fabric.
The fair was among the last of a several events held as part of Culture and Tourism Month.
Though Ms. Penn had no sales to report when she spoke with the Beacon Friday afternoon, she didn’t seem to mind. Straw is a slow medium to work with, she explained — especially if you grow the straw yourself.
“It takes about 20 years to make a hat,” she said.
Past, present and painted
Nearby, artist Vincent “Bing” Malone sat on a podium cattycorner from the bandstand, surrounded by his paintings.
“[Today has been] beautiful,” Mr. Malone said. “No sale, but beautiful.”
Despite not showcasing his works at last year’s fair, Mr. Malone’s paintings suggested that he is very much up to date on current events.
One work, which he said depicted the territory’s last general election, showed politicians gathered in a hall with a huge pie.
In season
In contrast to Ms. Penn and Mr. Malone, Tortola resident Amos Pickering said he had found a few customers for the plants he was selling.
Of all the greenery arranged on his tables, he recommended planting fruit trees while the ground is saturated with the recent rains.
“Apple tree, avocado, coconut tree: Those will catch now, and when the rain is off, they’ll still be able to survive,” he said.
Another fruit-related endeavour, the Local Tart Competition hosted by Caribbean Insurers, was postponed until Dec. 20.
The prizes for first through third place are $500, $300 and $200, respectively.
Directing culture
The month’s events continued Saturday, when the Department of Culture launched a project to establish the St. Philip’s Anglican Church Heritage and Pilgrimage Site in Kingstown and preserve the adjacent African Burial Ground.
The launching ceremony, which was held at St. George’s Episcopal Church, got under way with a hymn followed by an invocation from Senior Warden Clifton Burke.
“This site has been recognised by both government and UNESCO, and we give God thanks for that,” Mr. Burke said.
Junior Minister for Culture and Tourism Luce Hodge-Smith then took the podium.
“Today, for us, is a very important day as weare launching the [pilgrimage site] project,” Ms. Hodge-Smith said. “We say we have to continuously protect, safeguard, preserve our historical sites, our history and our culture. The time is now for us to rally our efforts into these ruins and these historical sites and bring them back to life.”
St. Philip’s dates to around 1840, when it was built with early stone mortar techniques by a community started by Africans freed from illegal slave ships before emancipation in 1834, according to the Eucharistic Minister Hesketh Newton, who spoke after Ms. Hodge-Smith.