The Magens Bay Authority discussed several upcoming events during its recent meeting, including the annual King of the Wing Festival on June 8, the dedication of the Mac Davis Fitness Trail on June 14, and a town hall meeting with the taxi associations that do business with the park on June 15.
The 13th annual King of the Wing, which will run from noon to 5 p.m. on June 8 and will feature a performance by R City, will include a shuttle service from both the Tutu Park Mall and the Fort Christian Parking Lot that residents are urged to utilize, given that the fundraiser draws thousands more people than can park at the beach, which will be closed to parking at 10:30 a.m. that day. All proceeds benefit the Nana Baby Children’s Home on St. Thomas.
Ads for the event “are emphasizing the issue of parking and transportation to the beach and we have to make sure that is followed. It becomes very chaotic with the logistics of people traversing to the beach that day and I anticipate it will be this year as well,” said board chairperson Barbara Petersen.
Shuttle service will start at 10 a.m. from both the mall and Fort Christian, with the last shuttle from the beach at 6:30 p.m. Entry to the park is free that day, but attendees are asked to support the bar and chicken wing sales, with 100 percent of the proceeds going to Nana Baby Children’s Home. Tickets for chicken wing tastings are 10 for $20 or two for $5, according to the website. Drink prices range from $3 to $6.
The Mac Davis Fitness Trail, constructed and named for longtime board member, community activist and former solicitor general and attorney general Elliott “Mac” Davis who died in September 2021, will be officially dedicated on June 14 at 9 a.m.
The fitness trail was conceived by the Davis family, who established a fund for its development at the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands, as the best way to acknowledge his enormous contributions to the park, which was deeded to the people of the Virgin Islands in perpetuity by Arthur Fairchild in 1947. Davis, a cancer survivor of 19 years despite a devastating diagnosis, was fully committed to physical fitness; along with being a marathon runner he also biked, worked out, paddle boarded and swam at Magens Bay, where he could be found most afternoons at his “happy place” at the far southwestern end of the beach.
On June 15 at 10 a.m., the authority will hold a town hall meeting open to all taxi drivers and taxi associations, to discuss “what it would look like when you do business with Magens Bay,” said Petersen. Of particular concern is the ongoing issue of long lines of traffic at the gate — sometimes backing up more than a mile — when safaris and taxis do not arrive with fees from their guests already collected, she said.
There will be more meetings to come, said Petersen. “We’ve agreed to have a slew of town hall meetings to work with the taxi operators, specifically the associations, and then training their members on what it would look like when you do business with Magens Bay,” she said. “We want to make it as seamless as possible.”
The meeting is currently scheduled to take place at Shed 4 at Magens Bay, though the location could change to a different area of the park if there is a request to rent the venue for a wedding or a party, said Petersen.
In other business, the board voted 3-2 without discussion to abbreviate its meeting schedule for the summer months. Meetings will be held in July and again in September, with the regular monthly schedule resuming in November. Katina Coulianos and Dayle Barry voted against, while Petersen, Cecile de Jongh and Kevin Rodriguez voted for the measure. Rodriguez is serving as the governor’s interim representative on the board in lieu of Avery Lewis, the St. Thomas/Water Island administrator who has taken a leave of absence to run for a Senate seat. Under V.I. law, candidates seeking election to the Virgin Islands Legislature are required to take a leave of absence from their governmental duties.
The board also discussed renovation plans for the concession building that houses the park’s restaurant and boutique. Elevated Hospitality, which took over the food and beverage concession in September 2023, will pay for the restaurant renovation, which is planned during the off-season, said Petersen. “It’s going to be a fine balance — we have to still provide food and beverage during that time. They are gearing up for it,” she said.
The renovation will also include a new roof and an Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant ramp, both of which are the responsibility of the Magens Bay Authority.
The meeting on Tuesday was the first for new General Manager Monique Simon, who was in her first week on the job. In her report, Simon said she met with the majority of the staff, discussed their needs and concerns, toured the facilities, and met with vendors for the concessions and taxi association individuals to better determine their needs and wants.
