CHRISTIANSTED — The island’s snakes remain, but that didn’t stop hundreds of green-clad revelers from turning out to celebrate Ireland’s patron saint during the 2024 St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday in Christiansted.
From its starting location at Fort Christiansvaern, the column of troupes and floats began their route up Company Street promptly at 11 a.m. The proceedings included everything from parade mainstays the St. Croix Majorettes, Guardians of Culture mocko jumbies and St. Croix Montessori students to classic cars, Krewe de Croix and more.
Yashlin Davis, 7, adds bubbles to the proceedings during the 2024 St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Saturday in Christiansted.Photos by KIT MACAVOY
Parade Committee Chair Stanford Joines called the day “magnificent.”
“Everybody was happy,” he said. “The floats — we didn’t have any gaps in the parade. Everything worked great. Nobody was hurt, that I know of.”
A mocko jumbie makes his way past King Christian Hotel during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Christiansted, St. Croix, on Saturday. (Photo by KIT MACAVOY)
Though not as large as some of the St. Patrick’s Day Parades before the COVID-19 pandemic — Joines said the last of those had about 10 more trucks — crowds still packed the sidewalks of Company and King streets. After the last of the floats completed their loop of Christiansted, revelers kept the party going up and down the boardwalk.
Joines attributed the popularity of St. Patrick’s Day on the big island to a history of Irish laborers brought to work on British-owned plantations as well as other similarities between islands — like the abundance of Catholic churches and the insistence on driving on the left side of the road.
“Check the phone book — you’ll see it’s full of Irish names,” he said.
By KIT MACAVOY/Virgin Islands Daily News