Preparations to celebrate the 52^nd Virgin Gorda Easter Festival are well on the way, with a lineup of Cultural activities scheduled to begin on Saturday, April 13.

This year’s Easter festivities will be held under the theme “A Cultural Jamboree in Musical City” and will honour Festival icon and long standing contributor to the Virgin Gorda Easter Festival, Mr. Roy O’Neal.

A Press Conference was held on Friday, April 5 where Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Culture, Dr. the Honourable Natalio Wheatley; Minister for Natural Resources and Labour and Ninth District Representative,  Honourable Vincent Wheatley; and Chairman of the Festival and Fairs Committee, Mr. Carnel Clyne gave details of the upcoming celebrations.

Honourable Natalio Wheatley urged the newly appointed Chairman of the Festival and Fairs Committee, Mr. Carnel Clyne, to ensure that the culture plays a prominent role in the festival activities. 

He said, “We must admit that there is a vast difference in terms of our activities, I will like to see us going back to the days when festival was about family, friends, fun and food and above everything else, it was about celebrating our culture.”

“It is ok that we have performers from other parts of the world, but I think that we have gotten a little bit far from our roots and we have to return to our roots,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ninth District Representative, Honourable Vincent Wheatley says that he is pleased to see the efforts that are being made by the Festival and Fairs Committee to keep the culture of the Virgin Islands alive.

“I like this year’s theme because it brings back what festival is intended to be, a social and cultural get-together,” he said, adding, “I hope to see this trend continue where we use festival to highlight our culture more than anything else.”

The Festival and Fairs Committee Chairman, Mr. Carnel Clyne said his committee is very excited to launch the 2019 Easter Festival which is being held under the theme “A Cultural Jamboree in Musical City”.

“The Sub-Committee Chairperson for the 2019 Easter Festival, Ms. Lyra George and her team are working diligently to produce a beautiful cultural experience over the Easter celebration,” he added.

A Culture Food Fair will be held at the Little Dix Hotel Grounds on April 13 at 10:00 a.m. to begin this year’s activities which will run until April 22.

Photo Caption:

Photo 1: Press conference to announce the 2019 Virgin Gorda Easter Festival celebrations. (Photo credit: Franklyn Skerritt)

Photo 2: Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Culture, Dr. the Honourable Natalio Wheatley; Minister for Natural Resources and Labour and Ninth District Representative, Honourable Vincent Wheatley; Junior Minister for Tourism, Honourable Shereen Flax-Charles and Chairman of the Festival and Fairs Committee, Mr. Carnel Clyne are pictured amongst other delegates at the press conference to announce the 2019 Virgin Gorda Easter Festival celebrations.