Minister for Natural Resources, Labour and Immigration Honourable Vincent O. Wheatley (D9), seen here pointing, actively participated in the Easter Monday Parade on April 22, 2019. Photo: VINO

A man painted with dyes during the Easter Monday Parade in Valley, Virgin Gorda on April 22, 2019. Photo: VINO

Sky dancers at the Easter Monday Parade in Vigin Gorda on April 22, 2019. Photo: VINO

A large crowd at the opening of the Roy O’Neal Festiville in Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda on April 20, 2019. Photo: VINO

Hon Wheatley was at the time giving brief remarks at the opening ceremony for this year’s celebrations at the Roy L. O’Neal Festiville in Valley, Virgin Gorda, on April 20, 2019.

“This festival that we are now recognising tonight didn’t start here in the Valley, it actually started over in North Sound.”

According to Hon Wheatley, who hails from Virgin Gorda, “It did begin as a religious festival or a religious celebration.” He said that back in the early days, North Sound residents carolled during the Christmas and collected all their monies and every Easter Monday they would go to either Sand Box or Oil Nut Bay and have a festival and celebration.

However, according to Hon Wheatley, things changed in 1967, “And people were coming back home from overseas to visit their families and friends and that was the birth of this festival as we know it. So this here makes 52 years that we have been doing festival in this manner.”

Religious origins

The Minister and District Representative sounded the clarity following the invocation performed by Ms Franka A. Pickering, after church leaders reportedly refused to perform the task.

Ms Pickering reminded those in attendance that the festival started as a religious one and noted that the church leaders missed a perfect opportunity to reach some souls.

Nonetheless, there has been notable further transformation of the festival over the many years, from location to the involvement of international artists to committees. Under the second year of being managed by Ms Lyra George, one of the most notable changes, apart from the major cut and late release of monies, was the shifting the village location.

The Minister responsible for cultural activities said, “I certainly want to acknowledge the hard work of Ms Lyra George and her hard-working committee. My respect for Lyra and her committee multiplied a thousand times when I walked into the village tonight.”

“Because of course, this is not the location usually. Usually, it was on the upper side and now it is at the lower side and there were some things that had to be done to prepare this site and get it ready for the festivities. “To me it even looks better than the site was before and I think you have done a wonderful job in very difficult circumstances, working with a new minister, a new chairman of the Festival Committee, having late money,” Hon Wheatley said of Ms George and her team while reassuring that monies for the festival being released late is now a thing of the past.