BVI to host BVI/USVI Friendship Day Celebration on Saturday


~~Adz:Right~~ Roadtown, Tortola - Premier Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE will welcome United States Virgin Islands Governor John P. deJongh Jr. and his delegation this Saturday, October 18 when the BVI hosts the 36th annual BVI/USVI Friendship Day celebrations.

A Harvest Thanksgiving, Two Virgin Islands, One People is the theme for this year’s Friendship Day celebrations which will take the form of a traditional harvest festival at the Palm Grove Park starting at 10:00 a.m. The event will include recitations, music, dramatic performances and a traditional harvest march.

The Premier said “the day is designed to give thanks for the many blessings that we have in the Virgin Islands and to celebrate our cultural heritage.”

At his recent press conference, the Premier said “the planning committee promises a day of colour and culture reminiscent of harvest day of time gone by.”

Providing a brief background of the event, Honourable O’Neal said “BVI/USVI Friendship Day dates back to 1972 with both territories hosting the event in alternate years.” He added that “the BVI/USVI Friendship Day is celebrated to recognise and strengthen the traditional close ties between the two groups of islands.”

Director of Culture Mrs. Luce Hodge-Smith concurred with the Premier that the BVI/USVI Friendship Day is “basically a celebration to recognise the bond of friendship between the two territories. It is also a time to highlight our commonalities, our shared history and culture.”

She told the Department of Information and Public Relations with the BVI/USVI Friendship Day, there has been a renewed focus on culture in recent years. According to Mrs. Hodge-Smith, this year will feature a re-enactment of a traditional harvest day.

“There has been some concerns that we are actually losing this part of it. We’re doing it every year but we are not doing it the traditional way, so we will try our best to highlight the actual traditional way in which we used to do it and try to bring that back so that we will continue to maintain this tradition,” she said.

Mrs. Hodge-Smith added that the committee is hoping to have “participants from the schools and the senior citizens who will come out and actually do the marching. Of course, we have the support of the Agriculture Department which is going to help us find the items, the fruits, the vegetables we will need to put on this production.”

The Director of Culture is hoping the more relaxed atmosphere of celebrating BVI/USVI Friendship Day will encourage more people to participate. “With the cultural presentation you are actually learning, you are seeing first hand how the two territories are really bonded, how we share one history and one culture,” she said.

Both the Premier and the Director of Culture are encouraging residents to come out on October 18 to be part of this celebration of the history of both sets of Virgin Islands.

This year marks the 36th anniversary of BVI/USVI Friendship Day celebrations and Premier O’Neal is encouraging the public to join Government in welcoming our family and friends from the United States Virgin Islands.