Grapo’s Art Gallery

Grapo’s Art Gallery

Governor Mapp about to the cut the ribbon.

Welcome to Culture to the Extreme, Virgin Islands Carnival 2015!

Carnival in St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands is one of the most festive times of the year. This is an annual celebration that occurs throughout the entire month of April and sometimes trickle into the first few days of May. Luckily for carnival goers, there are countless events to engage in. Some of the activities are the Prince and Princess Show, The Carnival Queen Show, Calypso Competitions, J’ouvert, the Children Parade and the Adult Parade.

Put your dancing shoes on because tonight we are heading to the Opening of the Carnival Village in the Fort Christian Parking Lot in Downtown Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas, United States Virgin Islands!
The village was officially opened after Cleve “Grapo” Turnbull, Village Honoree was recognized by both Carnival and Government Officials for his outstanding contributions to the community of the Virgin Islands. He was posthumously an artist who created, designed and painted the beautiful murals for the stage in the Lionel Roberts Stadium for many years.

Once the yellow ribbon was cut by Governor Kenneth Mapp, Carnival Village was officially opened.

This year, the theme of the village is Grapo’s Art Gallery. This was artistically expressed through the hand painted designs on all 33 colorful booths. Delicious Food and drinks are sold at the booths. The booths encircled the village in a rectangular form with a large open space in the middle.

In the center of this space, is a well-lit stage and hundreds of people who gathered around to listen and watch an array of concerts. There were performances throughout the night by popular Calypso and Soca Artists and bands such as Red Lion Sounds, Milo and the Kings, WCK, Spectrum Band and Roy Cape featuring Blaxx.

The western side of Carnival Village is a mini amusement park. There are rides of all kinds that make you scream when you go on them. You can snack on freshly spun cotton candy, popcorn and decorative candy apples. There are also lots of opportunities to win a huge teddy bear by winning one of the carnival games. On the outskirts of the village, vendors sold hats, shirts and toys for children that has sound effects and lights up!

The opening of Carnival Village is loads of fun and the best part is that there is something fun to do for people of all ages. The hours of operation are from 6:00pm-3:00am and it will be open every night until May 2nd.

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Booth #18 won 1st place exemplifying the theme of Grapo’s Art Gallery in Carnival Village

I am hoping to win a big teddy bear at this carnival game.