By Nikieta Liburd
Nevis Reporter
(St. Thomas, Nevis) – The St. Thomas Parish Festival Committee on Feb. 9 officially concluded the first-ever St. Thomas Festival with a prize giving-ceremony. The event took place at the Cotton Ground hard court.
“It was a fantastic festival, we had a really good time in the parish of St. Thomas,” Mr. Vaden Jones, Chairman of the Festival, said. “We had tremendous support from the general public in Nevis. We had the opening night, Queen Show and Calypso Show. We would like to thank the general public for their support and we will be featuring the St. Thomas Festival again this year, in the same month.”
“We will also be participating in the National Culturama Festival and we will also be featuring a troupe,” Mr. Jones said.
At the beginning of the ceremony a moment of silence was observed in honour of the late Ms. Valencia Robins, pictured at left, who participated in the Teen Pageant. Ms. Robins died on Jan. 18 in a traffic accident. The committee made a special presentation to the family. Ms. Robins’ mother was presented by with a $500 check and that was presented with another $500 check from Digicel, her sponsor.
The committee also gave Ms. Claire Robins a red shirt which had the picture of Valencia on it which said, “STT Parish Festival Remembers Our Digi Girl.”
Mr. Ashley Farrell, Cabinet Secretary on behalf of the Patron the Hon. Joseph Parry, Premier of Nevis presented the various prizes. He also gave his views on the outcome of the festival.
“The festival was exceptional. I think that the standard of the bar has been raised for community festivals” Mr. Farrell said. “You have set the bench mark against which any other community festival in Nevis and I dare say in St. Kitts will be measured. The challenge is to maintain the same high standard and it is not going to be easy”
The St. Thomas Festival ran from Dec. 20 – 23.
