Island Beat - What's Happening in the BVI

CHRISTMAS ON THE STREET
Colorful booths filled with holiday crafts, gift items, plants and baked goods will get shoppers in the holiday mood when Christmas on Main Street gets underway on December 2nd and 3rd. The annual event features local bands, carolers and stalls selling local foods and drinks. Starting at mid-day the event runs through the evening.

If you are on Virgin Gorda, Christmas in Spanish Town will be held on December 9th and 10th. Located on Lee Road by the fire station the event will feature holiday gifts and crafts booths, music, food and gift giveaways for the kids.

MORE HOLIDAY EVENTS
 Go down to Brewers Bay for a BVI Christmas tradition. The Torch Light Parade will be held on December 16th and 17th. On the Friday, there will be a "sing out" featuring old-time caroling, fungi band (local scratch band) music, and lots of good BVI food. The torch light parade lights up the bay on Saturday evening at 6:30 pm.

Road Town will have its Long Bush Christmas Parade on December 27. Starting at 2pm the parade wends its way through Huntums Ghut and Lower Estate, ending at the Band Stand on Long Bush Road. Fun for kids and adults, the event will feature a holiday grab bag of floats, bands and costumed characters.

CELEBRATE 2012 BVI-STYLE
From resorts to beach bars, there are a multiplicity of places to ring in the new year throughout the BVI. Two of the best known venues are Trellis Bay on Beef Island, off Tortola's eastern end and Foxy's on Jost Van Dyke. Attracting a diverse crowd of revelers, Trellis Bay's celebrations is a Caribbean style party featuring the stilt dancers known as mocko jumbies, Aragorn Dick-Read's famed fireballs and the straw effigy known, the "Burning Man" – all lit in an awe inspiring water's edge display at midnight. In addition there will be food, drinks and music all night, to be capped off with fireworks.

The Old Fox himself will be presiding over Foxy's New Year's Fete, called one of the world's three best New Years parties (after New York's Times Square and London's Trafalgar Square). The Fox and his wife Tessa hosted their first party there (a Hawaiian Luau) in 1968 – now several thousand revelers pack the beach at Jost Van Dyke's Great Harbour. There will be copious food, and drink and Caribbean bands will provide dancing music. A more formal dinner filled with glitter and sparkle will be served in the upstairs dining room at Foxy's Outback (reservations needed). A dance troupe from St. Thomas and a fireworks display are also on the agenda. For non-boaters a ferry will run from Tortola's West End.

HLSCC PERFORMING ARTS SERIES
This prestigious annual Performing Arts Series features the best in local talent, as well as international jazz, world and classical music. For three performances in January, from the 13th to the 15th, the series will also feature a theater production from the University of the Virgin Islands Theater: Old Time Story by Jamaican playwright, Trevor Rhone. The College's Performing Arts Series' 16th season will continue in February with the acclaimed Corky Siegel Chamber Blues Orchestra on February 25th. The Chicago based band bridges the line between classical and blues genres in an energy charged presentation. Ashu, a California-born classical saxophonist, who has played at Carnegie Hall and the Vienna Konzerthaus, among other international venues, is scheduled for March 10th. He will be followed by Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter, Diana King on March 24th. The series will culminate with a Summer Concert on May 19th featuring the College Ensembles.