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HomeNewsLocal governmentAgFair Weekend to Offer Cultural Activities, Entertainment; Seeks Vendors

AgFair Weekend to Offer Cultural Activities, Entertainment; Seeks Vendors

Vendor applications are still available at the University of the Virgin Islands Cooperative Extension Service (UVI-CES) office for the 33rd Annual St. Thomas-St. John Agriculture and Food Fair. Featuring Art by the Sea youth attractions, the fair will be held on Nov. 19 and Nov. 20 on the grounds of Reichhold Center for the Arts. The theme for this year’s fair is "Self-Reliance, Self-Esteem for a Better Farming Community in 2016."

Vendors will meet with the committee at 6 p.m., Friday, Oct. 28, at the UVI Administration and Conference Center (ACC) for assigned fairground spots, parking permits, advertising materials and information. Though this meeting is the official deadline, applications will still be accepted with a fee thereafter. The fair will open at 10 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. on both days. The official ceremony will begin at 2 p.m., Saturday. Nov. 19, hosted by Rashidi Clenance and then followed by the school costume contest and environmental awareness pitch presentations. Fruits and vegetables, nursery plants, fruit trees, vegetable seedlings, local arts and crafts, prepared food and more will be on sale.

Live entertainment, educational displays and workshops will be featured. There will be performances from the Flambo Combo Band, MASCILYN Bamboula Dancers, Ah We Band, CAHS Hawks Concert Choir, Gladys Abraham Cultural Dancers and the Spectrum Band with DJ Franklin “Ubba” Benjamin. There will also be tours to the CES Demonstration Garden, a grafting demonstration, composting workshops with UVICES and the V.I. Waste Management Authority as well as a coal pot lighting contest.

On both days, Art by the Sea Youth Attractions will have art projects made from recycled materials, a marine-debris costume contest and "Trashion Show" with students from various schools. There will also be gardening, arts and crafts stations, and a marine animal touch tank exhibit. Come and meet Gidget the Tree Boa at the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s booth. On Saturday, there will also be a cultural fashion show by NaydaCoki Designs.

Other games and activities will include pony rides, face painting, hula hoops, sack racing, ring toss, marine debris games and a livestock pavilion petting zoo. Adults and other fairgoers can enjoy an agricultural education game from Fintrac. Dr. Richard Pluke will be available for “Ask the Doctor” — an on-site clinic where fairgoers can receive advice and solutions to plant pest and disease problems — courtesy of Fintrac and UVI-CES.

Under the direction of CES staff, 4-H Collegiate New Media Club students and other youth groups will collaborate with the WUVI student radio station, conducting live on-site survey interviews and going on field trips between the fairgrounds and the campus radio station, where they’ll learn hands-on how to run the station.

This annual event is hosted by the St. Thomas-St. John Agriculture and Food Fair Committee in partnership with UVI-CES, V.I. Department of Agriculture (VIDOA), V. I. Council on the Arts, National Endowment of the Arts and Fintrac. The cost is only $3 for those 12 years and older and $2 for youth 11 and under.

For more information, call the UVI-CES at 693-1080 or VIDOA at 774-5182. E-mail sttstjagfair@gmail.com or visit ces.uvi.edu for details.

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