We just called the St. John Festival “hotline” expecting some sort of pre-recorded information about upcoming events. It’s the hotline, right? It rings twice, and then Leona Smith herself says “Hello?” I love St. John.
Anyway…Cruz Bay just got all decked out for the start of Festival (not Carnival but that’s a whole other story) which starts this afternoon with a Pan-O-Rama concert in Cruz Bay park. That will exhaust the island for a couple of weeks. The next formal event isn’t scheduled until June 13. Then festival stuff happens more or less every weekend but sometimes on Thursday too throughout June, leading up to the Festival Village opening in the Cruz Bay parking lot June 28. That will prime the island for J’Ouvert in the wee hours of July 4th, followed by the fireworks that night.
On island in June? Check out some of the craziness. There is a Website in the works. But like all things St. John, its current status is soon come. Try again Monday.
Future St. John celebrity Gene Hamilton continues to work away in the studio, scrambling to meet his contractual obligations for this summer’s release of Water Dancing. Gene is polishing up the rough cuts we’ve been leaking to you. Here’s another preview quality only cut. This is Sitting in the Sun. Enjoy!
St. John artist, Friends of the VINP big shot and all around good peeps Kristen Maize has another artist’s reception coming up next week. This one is at the Mango Tango Art Gallery in St. Thomas’ fancy Yacht Haven Grande. Included in the show (unless you call and buy it from her first) is this painting, called Leaving Port.
She’ll be at Mango Tango Friday, June 6, starting at 6 p.m. Kristen also has her own Website, here.
We took this picture just before passing these folks on the way up Jacob’s ladder. You don’t see too many bikers on St. John, let alone a couple in their 50’s willing to take on one of the island’s steepest paved hills. These guys did it. When we looked back at the top of the hill, they were halfway up and still peddling. What a FUN coast down the other side must have been.
Captured on camera at the Cyril E. King Airport, one of the Cooler People. You know them. You read about them. The much-maligned, oft-ridiculed St. John visitors who load up coolers full of frozen food and bring them down.
Mind you, we have absolutely no opinion about Cooler People. C’est la vie. We even have Cooler People friends.
We’re all for saving a buck and we’re all for bringing down stuff you really want and may not find. (A frozen, 10 pound Virginia ham for example which was actually a forum post we saw a couple of years ago and heaven forbid that family go a week without a Virginia ham.)
But now there’s a Cooler People conundrum. The airline is now going to charge you for that cooler. Maybe 15 bucks. Maybe 25. If it weighs too much, maybe 50. At what point does the math reach the tipping point?
We think it is time for tough love intervention. If you know a Cooler Person, hug them. Love them. Then remind them the spiral sliced ham will be waiting for them when they get home.
We still have a few Tigger T-shirts left, but when they’re gone, they are gone.
Okay. The truth is we have QUITE A FEW Tigger T’s left. Thanks to everybody who has bought one, we’ve now broken even, but the idea of this fundraiser was TO RAISE FUNDS.
We know gas is four and a half bucks a gallon, but that gets you a couple of hundred miles of going places you probably aren’t all that excited about going to anyway. This shirt will last forever. Well, longer than a weeks’ worth of driving anyway.
AND. If you’d prefer not to order online, we now have a very limited number of Tigger T’s available at St. John Spice.
Please consider buying a Tigger T. It’s for a good cause. Otherwise we’ll end up buying the rest of them. (Which wouldn’t be horrible since we wouldn’t have to do laundry for 31 days. 62 days if we try not to sweat too much.)
You can’t have a restaurant without a kitchen, and from the looks of it, it doesn’t look like someone has stepped forward at the last minute to bring back Subway.
The shack’s lease is no longer listed for sale, either. Too bad. It’d make a great Woody’s annex. Woody’s South.
This guy is leaving with a nice oven. His wife would probably be happier with the home version.
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We could get used to Upper Peter Bay. We’d have to get rich first, but it’s sure nice when people throw us the keys for a few days.
This is Rotunda. A five bedroom manse at the very tippy top of the mountain above Cinnamon Bay with humungous views. It’s a big villa, but it’s very casual and comfortable. An absolutely beautiful home. Check out Rotunda, below…
St. John’s not immune to inflation. Gas, utilities, food are all going up. So is the cost to get to the island. The $300 St. Thomas airfare is probably gone for awhile.
But hey…if you smoke or you drink rum, you can still do both of those amazingly cheap. Pass the rum. That last plane ticket nearly broke us.
And enjoy these grapes…$6.69 a pound. That’s $15.92 worth of grapes.
It seems like we’re spending a lot of time talking about businesses that are closing. Add Coral Bay hot spot Island Blues to the list. It shut down Tuesday night. The place had been listed for sale for awhile, and then it was off the market but still for sale by owner and —
Hold on. Wait. What’s that? Um, ladies and gentlemen, this just in. Wait. What? We can’t say yet? Um, Okay then…We’ll be mum for now. (It’s Coral Bay after all.)
Um,soon come. (What! You want our kneecaps broken?)
After nine years in business at Wharfside Village, Cruz Bay Photo’s final day is Friday. Owner Craig Dengler blames the evolution of photography.
“No one comes in with four rolls of film they want developed anymore. Now it’s all digital and there’s no money in that for me.”
Craig says he’s added telescopes and cameras and binoculars in recent years, but the shifting state of photography, along with rising St. John rents, means the business no longer makes sense for him.
So what’s next for Craig?
“The first thing I’ll do is go back to my hometown Rochester to see my Mom and family,” he says. “I’ve got some land in the Finger Lakes wine country. I’m working on an online start-up business that would let me spend time in the Finger Lakes and St. John. It’s a good time for me to write the next chapter in my life.”
Depending on when you’re reading this, you may still have time to get a Going Out of Business bargain. Craig says the store will be open all day Friday.
Part time Coral Bay resident and full-time St. John lover Gene Hamilton has decided to bypass the American Idol route and go straight for a record deal. He has signed with Blue Tang Productions for the summer release of his CD, “Water Dancing,” including the blockbuster hit “Rockin’ the VI.”
Terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but partner Eileen is expecting major bling out of this. The CD will include 10 original tracks. Here’s another taste. This is “See you on St. John.” Enjoy!
