East End Marine Park Draws Crowd for Stories Under the Stars

The south shore of St. Croix became a stage for stories about Anansi, the trickster spider of African and Caribbean and folklore, the djembe and other tales during “Astronomy by the Sea” Saturday night at the East End Marine Park.

The free event was hosted by the Friends of the St. Croix East End Marine Park and the Planning and Natural Resources Department’s Coastal Zone Management Division. Starting at 7 p.m., storyteller and artist Kemit Sweeney captivated dozens of audience members under the stars at Estate Great Pond Park. Organizer Lindsay Metz, environmental outreach coordinator for the park, said the returning event was about bringing the St. Croix community out to connect with nature — and each other.

“It’s just another way to get people outside — to get people aware that there is 17 miles of protected coastline on St. Croix that’s a marine protected area. And just knowing that can even help protect it,” she said. “And that’s great for the rest of the island, because we’re protecting the seagrass where the baby fish grow up, and then that spillover effect is going to make the whole fishing industry better for the whole rest of the island — which is part of our tourism too, with scuba diving.”

Sweeney said he learned storytelling from his mother, culture-bearer Donna “Asheba” Samuel, and he asked audience members to pass the stories he told Saturday on to younger generations. It’s important, he said, “because there are certain key experiences in life that you can’t be taught.”

“You have to go through the experience yourself,” he said. “But the best way to do that, to guide someone through these experiences, is to tell them a story — wrap up the lesson in a story, so that they have to figure it out themselves, so they have to come into the knowing on their own. And in that way, you give them the confidence so that they can grow on their own.”

Metz said the East End Marine Park has several upcoming events, including a Trunk-or-Treat at the park on Oct. 25.

“We’re going to have a whole lot of different events to bring the community out, and we’ll have this whole outdoor area decorated,” she said.