V.I. Carnival in St. Thomas in 2019. Photo Credit: REEMY-REEMZ PHOTOGRAPHY/VICONSORTIUM
There will be some level of carnival activity in St. Thomas this year, but preliminary planning point to a less spectacular event with no parades or jouvert, as Covid-induced restrictions continue to upend life around the world.
Speaking during an interview with the Consortium Sunday, Governor Albert Bryan said the plans he's seen from the V.I. Dept. of Tourism so far include Village nights and some other activities - similar to the scaled back event that was planned for St. Croix at the Agricultural Fair Grounds before those plans were abandoned when the Omicron surge of Covid-19 affected the USVI late December 2021 into early January.
"Tourism right now, they're not looking at a parade, they're looking at Village with controlled entry based on vaccinations. That's what's being proposed right now," said Governor Bryan, who said his conversations with the Dept. of Tourism so far have been preliminary. Even so, Mr. Bryan was wary of approving events such as parades and jouvert during a pandemic that has proven to be unpredictable.
"I can't endorse a parade and then we have something happen two weeks [before] and all this preparation, all this money spent, and then there's no parade. That's too much," he said. "I think we have enough runway to do Village, get some entertainment in; I'm still up in the air about vaccine or no vaccine in the Village."
The Dept. of Tourism had a similar experience on St. Croix, where resources were put into planning events, including entertainment from artists such as Kes for a scaled back festival in December, and then the plan was upended by the Omicron surge leading to the cancellation of those events.
For St. Croix, Mr. Bryan said he would have conversations with the Dept. of Tourism and the Division of Festival, which is an arm of D.O.T., about hosting an event on St. Croix around the Presidents' Day holiday, which falls on Monday, Feb. 21 this year.
The last time the USVI held any major carnival or festival activities was in 2019 in St. Thomas (VI Carnival), and late 2019 into early 2020 on St. Croix (the Crucian Christmas Festival) ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic, which took hold in March 2020.
