Virgin Islands author Anika Christopher is among 30 Caribbean writers featured in a new anthology that she helped launch on Monday at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Baku, …
November 22, 2024
August 15, 2024
East End shows off culture
Hop-skipping in single file, a column of matching dancers entered a semi-circle of white tents at Greenland Field in East End and made their way to a maypole. Two by …
August 9, 2024
VI celebrates 190 years of freedom, thousands attend
Larina Loretta Jacobs-Lamothe has operated a booth at the August Emancipation Festival nearly every year for more than four decades. Asked this year about her favourite memory from that time, …
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August 1, 2024
Torch parade kicks off 70th Festival
Torch-lit residents clad in white marched through Road Town on Monday evening, ceremoniously commencing the 70th August Emancipation Festival. Under the sweltering nighttime humidity, more than three dozen people sang …
July 25, 2024
Virgin Islands to mark 190 years of freedom
On Monday evening, a torchlight procession through Road Town will lead to the official ceremony kicking off the 70th August Emancipation Festival. The opening at the Festival Village Grounds will …
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June 10, 2024
Premier stands by music festival
Though attendance at the recent Virgin Islands Music Festival was far lower than organisers hoped amid calls for a boycott, Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley said his government won’t give …
May 16, 2024
Festival reports released with names redacted
Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley has refused to name the businesses and individuals hired for festival celebrations in 2022 and 2023, leading opposition member Marlon Penn to compare him to …
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May 3, 2024
August Festival to mark 70 this year
There will be much to celebrate during this year’s August Emancipation Festival. “We’re celebrating not just the 70th anniversary of Festival, but we’re celebrating 190 years of emancipation, 190 years …
March 25, 2024
3-day music festival to launch in May
Styles ranging from Afrobeat and R&B to dancehall and jazz will be featured at the new Virgin Islands Music Festival on May 24-26, the BVI Tourist Board and Film Commission …
August 2, 2023
69th Festival starts with stories, song
The 69th August Emancipation Festival kicked off on the evening of July 31 with a steel pan rendition of Bob Marley’s “One Love” and tales about the storied history of …
April 14, 2023
‘King Paido’ keeps crown in first VI calypso contest since 2019
Reynold “King Paido” Phillips wouldn’t have missed the calypso competition on Sunday night at the Virgin Gorda Easter Festival. After all, he had a title to defend. Because of the …
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December 1, 2022
10th Anegada Lobster Festival a hit
At sunrise on Friday, a dozen residents gathered on the Anegada ferry dock to set an intention for the weekend: that everyone arriving to the “drowned island” would be safe …
August 18, 2022
Festival report promised in weeks
Following August Emancipation Festival events held for the first time in three years, Virgin Islands Festivals and Fairs Committee Chairman Dirk Walters said that the organisation is already drafting a …
August 12, 2022
Virgin Islands dishes featured at food fair
During the Festival Food Fair on July 29, Olive Vanterpool was demonstrating the process of making cassava bread as live steel pan music played in the background. Her mission was …
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April 22, 2022
Virgin Gorda Easter Festival returns
With an official list of events circulated by government on Good Friday, the 53rd Virgin Gorda Easter Festival was held over the weekend after being canceled for the last two …
August 18, 2021
COMMENTARY —Covid, Festival, Olympics addressed
Covid-19, the August Emancipation Festival and the Olympics are all worthy of a separate commentary. Nonetheless, there is currently a confluence of these issues, so I will take the bold …
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July 30, 2021
August Festival events postponed
Last year’s August Emancipation Festival was marked with a mashup of virtual and in-person events featuring live-streamed musical showcases and poetry competitions as well as small traditional markets and food …
August 13, 2020
A virtual twist for Festival 2020
The 66th August Emancipation Festival was unlike any other before it. Rather than packing into the Festival Village to dance to soca and calypso, residents logged onto the Virgin Islands …
August 3, 2020
Virtual service reflects on emancipation
Though the annual Emancipation Service could not be held in person due to Covid-19 precautions, viewers who tuned in to a virtual version of the event last week still got …
August 1, 2020
A socially distanced festival begins
Once, while abroad in Canada, somebody asked Jadienne Webb where she came from. Leaning into her identity and her accent, Ms. Webb said, “I live where you vacay, you escape …
July 31, 2020
Festival report sheds light on last year
After the government failed to provide legally mandated annual reports on Festival spending for three years, Education, Culture, Youth Affairs, Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley recently broke …
July 24, 2020
Scaled-back August Festival is on
Though the celebrations will look notably different from typical years, the August Emancipation Festival will still happen in the coming weeks despite the complications of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to …
March 6, 2020
2019 festival report promised soon
A detailed report on the government’s spending on last year’s festivals is written, but Education, Culture, Youth Affairs, Fisheries and Agriculture Minister Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley told the House of …
January 21, 2020
Fourth Kite & Paddle Festival takes off
Though the windy weather over the weekend was dangerous for small vessels at sea, it was perfect for the fourth Anegada Kite & Paddle Festival. In fact, it was the …
October 28, 2019
$710k festivals budget ballooned to $1.9 million in spending
The Virgin Islands Festivals and Fairs Committee started out the year with a budget of $710,000, which later was upped to $1.3 million before expenditures ultimately topped $1.9 million, according …
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