The 8th Annual Dominican Parade held in Christiansted Sunday had a little bit of everything, including a lady on a motorcycle with a Santa Domingo flag in her teeth and mocko jumbies sharing a Presidente beer.
And in a tip of the hat to current events and political tension, a mock slave being hounded by a man with a fake gun. As the guy with the fake gun told this reporter, the guy dressed as a slave was not really a slave.
“He is a Mexican and we are making sure he goes home.”
Maybe it was the atmosphere in the United States, in which immigration is a hot-button issue, that caused the proliferation of so many flags together. Everywhere in the parade, which lasted almost three hours and included two dozen troupes or floats, were seen the three flags – the flags of Santo Domingo, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the United States. But then again; it has always been this way in this parade.
Wilfrido Ferreras, of the Santo Domingo Action Committee, said that each year the celebration on St. Croix gets bigger. The event celebrates the February day in 1844 when Juan Pablo Duarte, who had founded a secret society called La Trinitaria, declared independence from Haiti.
One of the liveliest dance groups was the Ballet Folklorico de las Isla Virgenes, which followed the float of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rican Friendship Committee; both groups celebrating the diversity of culture that immigration fosters.
Soraya Ferreras, Miss USVI/Santo Domingo led the parade, riding in a convertible, smiling and waving to the people lining both sides of King Street and East End Road from the Bassin Triangle to Canegata Park.
The fun did not stop when the parade stopped. In the park a village with more than 20 vendors was set up. They were selling everything from flashy trinkets to pates to rum and Cokes. Youngsters found activities on the athletic fields and in giant blow up bouncers.
In front of the park’s stage was an open field where groups such as the St. Croix Majorettes could give one last performance. Behind everything there was always the pulsating loud beat of Latin music.
A guest from Santo Domingo, Olympia Rodriquez, was the parade’s grand marshal. She is the vice mayor of the Fourth Municipal District in Santo Domingo. She doesn’t speak English but told the Source her experience in the parade was “Excellente.”
