Jan. 3, 2009 — They work all year to get ready to take part in the Crucian Christmas Festival Adult Parade, and it shows.
The annual parade got off to a late start — a different sort of tradition — but the audience waited good-naturedly, growing denser as the minutes passed with nary a complaint raised. The crowd seems to take the advertised 10 a.m. starting time as more like a suggestion and plans accordingly. Hundreds of people lined the street by 10:30. It had grown to thousands by the time the parade got going — a few minutes before noon.
And when the marchers stepped off, they did so with a spirit that the audience gave right back.
Here's how it works: The paraders perform, the crowd loves it, cheers and applauds. And the energy coming back from the crowd boosts the performers and carries them as they strut, dance, sway, shimmy, twirl and prance their way down the long parade route.
At the end of the parade route, performer after performer said the same thing.
"This year the energy was amazing," said Shamari Haynes, the young director of the Simply Sophisticated dance group. "They went crazy."
Ruel Sealy, a member of the Casino Troupe, said the whole group had been in training for the most of the year to be ready for the parade.
"It's good for tourism, it's good for the locals, it's good for the kids. It's a memorable event," he said.
From the audience side of the rope, the feeling was mutual.
"I like everything about it, the color, the music, the dancers, the culture," said Gloria Cora, who had staked out her spot before the listed 10 a.m. parade start. She's been viewing the parade from the same spot for the last three years, she said, an elevated space along Hannah's Rest Road near the stepping-off point, about six feet above the parade route where she's got a perfect view. And when the last of the parade passes her, she added, she can get out and get home ahead of the rest of the traffic.
At the other end of the parade route, Mirian Schuster has watched the parade near the finishing point in front of Fort Frederik for more years than she can count. This one was particularly good, she said.
"Everything, the steel bands, the mocko jumbies, the majorettes, everything," she said.
And it didn't hurt that some high clouds had helped ward off the hottest of the sun's rays.
Along with all the items on Schuster's list, there were plenty of other things to enjoy. The western motif of The Gentlemen of Jones included their own rolling saloon and what must have been the longest country line dance in St. Croix history. The St. Croix Drag Racing Association towed some of their hottest cars along the route, the three kings of the nativity story made an appearance, but instead of bearing gold, frankincense and myrrh, they carried baskets of candy that were passed out to children of all ages.
And Chester Brady pushed along his one-man tribute to the music that binds the Crucian culture. His small pushcart was adorned with a guitar, the names of many St. Croix musicians past and present, and music by those artists blared forth as he wheeled down the street.
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