The Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour – Department of Agriculture today July 18, 2014 presented the Fifth Annual Mango Array and Tropical Fruit Festival at the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park. Photo: VINO

Ms. Isha I. Hodge, Agricultural Officer 1 with the Department of Agriculture said that the event is a celebration of the tropical fruits that are in the Virgin Islands. Photo: VINO

The Fifth Annual Mango Array and Tropical Fruit Festival at the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park held today July 18, 2014 saw food and fruits among other things being sold. Photo: VINO

This group sold mango products in jars and bottles at the Fifth Annual Mango Array and Tropical Fruit Festival at the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park held today July 18, 2014. Photo: VINO

The Fifth Annual Mango Array and Tropical Fruit Festival at the Noel Lloyd Positive Action Movement Park held today July 18, 2014. Photo: VINO

The event was well attended and visitors got the opportunity to see the many uses and applications of the tropical fruits grown here in the Virgin Islands, primarily the mango.

Speaking to Virgin Islands News Online at the event, Isha I. Hodge, Agricultural Officer 1 with the Department of Agriculture said that the event is a celebration of the tropical fruits that are in the Virgin Islands “whilst giving the entrepreneurs and business owners an opportunity to promote these local fruits and also make money.”

She said that the exhibition has been “going great…for the hours it has been open I am seeing a great turnout. This is the 12 o’clock rush hour so we are seeing lots of persons coming to get their lunch and to browse for various things.”

Activities planned for the day included a display of mango and all the local fruits, a mango eating competition for children, games, bobbing for mangoes, along with a propagation session which includes air-layering, and grafting, according to the Department of Agriculture.

At the event, vendors sold food, assorted fruit trees, ornaments, art and craft, value added products and fresh produce on site. Additionally, there was poetry reading where the poems reflected cultural value and love for the mango and other tropical fruits grown and consumed in the Territory.