Amid the chair caning, fish net weaving and broom making at the 9th annual Folklife Festival at the Annaberg ruins Friday, a grade school boy wandered by contentedly sucking on homemade candy. He was one of dozens of youngsters on the grounds, and most of them seemed to be having a great time.
Over the years, the three-day cultural event staged in and presented by the V.I. National Park has been a time for both fun and reflection for hundreds of students, pre-school to pre-teen, from public and private schools. (Saturday from noon to 6 p.m. is the last opportunity to take in this year's fair. Admisson is free.)
Some of the youngsters present Friday were there to perform with groups of quadrille and bamboula dancers. Others, like Javon Franc from the Bertha C. Boschulte Middle School, played steelpan, setting a group of children 2 to 4 years of age from the Early Learning Center romping to the beat. A group of youngsters applauded and laughed as their friends in the band took their turns at musical improvisation.
Over by broom maker Randolph Thomas, two students stood by waiting to watch him bend fan palms into broom heads and mount them on sharpened sticks.
Javon, who's 13, said it was his second visit to the fair, where straw weavers and broom makers remind him of things he learned before he left his home down island two years ago. "I'm from Nevis, and when you sweep the yard, you sweep with that," he said, pointing to a hand- made broom." Here, he added, his family uses the store-bought variety.
For Jervan Jackson, a fifth grader from Peace Corps Elementary School, seeing native crafts such as Gwendolyn Harley's mango seed dolls was a new experience. "I've never really seen all of these things," he said. "It reminds me of my teacher's dolls."
But for Jervan, too, the broom making was familiar. He said his mother collects coconut fronds to make her homemade brooms.
A short distance away, in the shadow of the cookhouse, students from the New Horizons Alternative School on St. Thomas chatted in relaxed groups. Across the walkway, smoke rose from a slow-burning coal pit, part of a farming exhibit that held the attention of 14-year-old Simba Parker. "I like to farm," he said. "I like plants."
Robert Thigpen, 11, had sugar cane on his mind. "My granddad, he lives out in the country," he said. "He always brings sugar cane from Durant, Mississippi."
Other students said they liked the food, although the variety of dishes available is traditionally less lavish than at other V.I. festivals. Fifth grader Shenelle Buchanan found happiness in a meat-filled pastry. Nearby, a park interpreter called members of the BCB Burning Blazers band to sample fresh-baked dumb bread with cheese.
From the earliest days of the fair, V.I. National Park ranger Denise Georges has aimed her efforts in the annual Black History Month event at reaching out to local school children, both as participants and as consumers of culture. Friday afternoon, she looked over the gathering and smiled satisfaction.
