Miracle on Main Street
Friday night was Miracle on Main Street on St Thomas. It's like the Havensight Christmas Tree Lighting Party but it's in town instead of at the mall. This time there were a few more bands, including the Rising Stars - the steel drum band created from the Superior Court's intervention program with local kids. The band is huge and the kids are amazing. I was really glad we got to see them. They had a concert last Sunday night but I was busy working and we didn't think to buy tickets ahead of time so we missed it. I definitely want to catch it next year.
For Miracle, local vendors filled Emancipation Garden -- a big square grassy area near the Post Office, named for when slaves were emancipated in 1848 by the Danes. The vendors sold crafts, jewelry, and, of course, FOOD. For starters, we got a coconut sugar cake; this one was a little more crumbly than the one we got at the Havensight event. We bought our dinners from the same woman I got kallaloo soup from at Havensight. This time I tried her conch though and Dave was adventurous and got the welch. Her potato stuffing was good but I didn't need to eat as much of the buttery rice as I did. Dave's welch was interesting. Maybe he'll post about it and the leyche liqueur one of these days...
We wandered up Main Street and walked back along Veterans Drive (the road by the harbor). Tons of shops were all open late and there were plenty of discounts. We popped our heads into a few shops and bought a few small items. Miracle on Main Street is considered THE shopping day apparently. It's the night lots of the locals do their Christmas shopping. Although at work I heard many people mention that they've learned over the years to choose between shopping or enjoying the food and the bands and the boat parade. Yes, the boat parade!
At 6:30, the boat parade began. About 6 or 7 boats paraded along the harbor near Veterans Drive with lots of holiday lights on them. One boat even had an inflatable Santa Claus on it. The boats did the route twice. It was interesting to see what constitutes as a parade here.... Everyone seemed to enjoy it though and there was happy singing going on. When we were in one store, carollers even came in to serenade the shoppers.
With all this eating going on, I've gotten into the habit of going running a few times a week. Good thing I went today because we just had a surprise holiday party at work and I sure ate a lot of local food. I'm bringing home some potato stuffing and desserts for sharing though.
We're enjoying our first Caribbean holiday and we're super excited because our first visitors arrive tomorrow. Maybe we can get them to do a guest post on the blog....
Soon, I'll post some photos of Miracle on Main Street as well as a great photo of us taken this weekend doing something very touristy... stay tuned!
For Miracle, local vendors filled Emancipation Garden -- a big square grassy area near the Post Office, named for when slaves were emancipated in 1848 by the Danes. The vendors sold crafts, jewelry, and, of course, FOOD. For starters, we got a coconut sugar cake; this one was a little more crumbly than the one we got at the Havensight event. We bought our dinners from the same woman I got kallaloo soup from at Havensight. This time I tried her conch though and Dave was adventurous and got the welch. Her potato stuffing was good but I didn't need to eat as much of the buttery rice as I did. Dave's welch was interesting. Maybe he'll post about it and the leyche liqueur one of these days...
We wandered up Main Street and walked back along Veterans Drive (the road by the harbor). Tons of shops were all open late and there were plenty of discounts. We popped our heads into a few shops and bought a few small items. Miracle on Main Street is considered THE shopping day apparently. It's the night lots of the locals do their Christmas shopping. Although at work I heard many people mention that they've learned over the years to choose between shopping or enjoying the food and the bands and the boat parade. Yes, the boat parade!
At 6:30, the boat parade began. About 6 or 7 boats paraded along the harbor near Veterans Drive with lots of holiday lights on them. One boat even had an inflatable Santa Claus on it. The boats did the route twice. It was interesting to see what constitutes as a parade here.... Everyone seemed to enjoy it though and there was happy singing going on. When we were in one store, carollers even came in to serenade the shoppers.
With all this eating going on, I've gotten into the habit of going running a few times a week. Good thing I went today because we just had a surprise holiday party at work and I sure ate a lot of local food. I'm bringing home some potato stuffing and desserts for sharing though.
We're enjoying our first Caribbean holiday and we're super excited because our first visitors arrive tomorrow. Maybe we can get them to do a guest post on the blog....
Soon, I'll post some photos of Miracle on Main Street as well as a great photo of us taken this weekend doing something very touristy... stay tuned!
posted by Kendra at 3:03 PM
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