Sonya’s Fine Island Jewelry, located in the heart of Christiansted, is honoring individuals and organizations making meaningful contributions to St. Croix’s economy. Each year, Sonya’s will present “The Key to Unlock St. Croix,” an award that allows the community to nominate deserving candidates from both Christiansted and Frederiksted towns.
The chosen recipient will be honored with a 14k gold key pendant designed by the team at Sonya’s to resemble a historic skeleton key. To kick off this meaningful initiative, Sonya’s selected the inaugural honoree, Peter Zielke, in recognition of his efforts to restore historic buildings in Christiansted.
“His efforts have culminated in the redevelopment of abandoned properties returning vibrancy to the town one project at a time,” said Sonya’s part-owner and former Sen. Nellie O’Reilly.
“Being a part of the downtown district, we see so many buildings that need to be rehabilitated and we do our best to keep our building clean and visually pleasing to the eye. We noticed that there was some construction going on coming into town and we found out it was the same person doing this. We started talking about what it would mean to recognize people who took interest in rehabilitating our downtown districts and how Sonya’s can be a part of continuing to promote that,” she said.
“It’s more than just rehabilitating the buildings, he’s actually using art into really old buildings in order to bring them back,” said O’Reilly.
“We can’t leave everything up to the government. Our island’s architecture is so delicate. With every building that goes down and crumbles, there goes our history,” she said.
O’Reilly noted the importance of small and large businesses, especially those in the downtown district, in supporting or investing in maintaining and restoring historic buildings. She suggested recognizing those who make these efforts, as the buildings are an important part of the area’s history.
She also mentioned that her appreciation for these historic buildings grew when taking over the 60-year-old name of Sonya’s in 2019. “I didn’t really think about the history,” she said.
“You start to think of the people who used to walk the streets, people that had horses and carriage, just all the history itself.”
As for Zielke, he was given the key during the holidays and is very humbled by the recognition. “We want to keep the community engaged so that they too can start paying attention to what they are seeing. It doesn’t have to be at the level that Mr. Zielke is doing. That will be up to the people who make the nomination to decide what speaks to them,” said O’Reilly.
At the end of each year, the people of St. Croix will have the opportunity to nominate someone for the award. Sonya’s will post the nomination criteria on their Facebook page, and the store’s employees will make the final decision.
