Sunday, February 20, 2011 – St. Croix Fair/AgFest:
Gerald is up and ready to go to the fair…can you believe it? Good grief! I guess he’s been so bored with having to sit in here for so long…he’s willing to do anything! We decided to drive to the AgFest rather than take a taxi. There’s lots of parking areas in adjacent fields, so we’ll just have to walk. We get to the fair grounds, pull in and park in the field. Not too bad so far. We didn’t get right up front, but luckily there was a little tram running up and down and he stopped and waited for us to cross the field. That was a life saver! The uneven ground of the field was proving to be difficult to maneuver. It’s a sunny day too, so it’s gonna be pretty hot. At least we don’t have to worry about that part!
We got to the gate and Gerald went to pay the entrance fee (he got the senior discount!) while I waited back out of the way. He got our bracelets and through the gate we went. Oh boy! Looking around there are horse rides, tons of kids stuff and food vendors galore! And I mean GALORE! There was a building that housed numerous food booths, then the first band stand we came to was surrounded by these little 10x10 (maybe) shacks selling food and drink. We stopped a while and took in some of the music. Very lively!
(Snow cones to the left!)
(More food in this barn!)
(All the little food booths - this is where I got the Kallaloo)
(Video of the lively band near the gate! Wish they had a CD!)
We walked a little further then went across the bridge and as far as you could see were more of these little food shacks on both sides of the roadway! My gawd!
(This was only the beginning of the row!)
Most sold the same thing, some had maybe a different dish here or there. We saw roasted chicken, fried salt fish, fruit tarts, fried pockets full of vegetables or meats like chicken, seafood, beef, pork, all kinds of pate, (of course most everything was fried – I LOVE IT!) little bags of cut sugar cane, fruit smoothies. But each of the shacks represented certain families, groups, organizations or school clubs that made the food they were selling (I guess). There was a chart that had the location of each booth and who was in it. Guess if you knew someone you would just patronize their booth. We kept walking and I was making notes of the things I wanted to try. Our cleaning lady said she always goes to the fair and gets the Kallaloo with the fungee. So I told Gerald I wanted to see what it was. We never saw any Kallaloo on the main road, but I did see Johnny Cakes, pumpkin fritters and banana fritters. They immediately went on my list. But no fried Twinkies! =(
We passed another music stage and they were playing a Caribbean jazz. On the other side of food row was a field filled with picnic tables. Some under trees, some not. I saw lots of mango trees, and the fruit was growing, but not ripe yet. There were other fruit trees too. Guess since this is the Ag center, it makes sense that they have lots of fruit trees! Would love to be under these trees when the fruit ripens! YUM!
Eventually we came to the end of the food and then we hit the merchandise booths! OH HOW FUN! Tons of local stuff! Purses, suitcases, clothes, endless!
I wanted to get these tennis shoes, but Gerald wouldn’t let me. He said no way…and I told him Will and the doctor said I should get tennis shoes …and plus they went up the ankle so it would provide lots of support! It didn’t fly….but I still want them! =)
(LOVE 'EM - WANT 'EM)
And then we saw the building that put the Ag in AgFest. Plants, fruits and vegetables of all sorts and kinds. And just booth after booth of these venders. The building was packed with venders and visitors. People were pulling wagons full of plants, trees and veggies. So fun! You know me…I would have bought a ton of tomatoes and cucumbers and whatever else I could find, but Gerald didn’t want too. He was having a hard enough time carrying my purse, hat and water bottle! I told him that Aunt Charlotte always brought her pull along and we always put things in that. But he didn’t want to get one of those either!
We sat for a while at another band stand at the end where the agricultural and animal stuff was and they were getting ready for what appeared to be a battle of the bands. After I rested up a bit, we headed back towards the food booths. We randomly picked a booth and got a Johnny Cake, pumpkin fritter and banana fritter. I wanted to call my cousin Machelle so bad to tell her we were walking around the Virgin Islands Fair buying a bunch of food to take home to eat like we do when I go to the Illinois State Fair! Gerald was having a hard time with the idea! We ended back up to the food booths we saw when we first came in because we never saw any of the Kallaloo. So we started walking through there and found a booth that had it. Poor Gerald had no idea what he was ordering…neither did I, but I picked the pork Kallaloo. When he ordered, the lady asked him if he wanted fungee with it, and he was flummoxed. But he got it anyway – which is good cause that’s what I wanted. I had no idea what to expect from it. Never seen or heard of it before, but I thought Gerald was going to start gagging immediately! It was so funny!
So with our Pork Kallaloo, Johnny Cake, pumpkin fritter and banana fritter in hand , we started to leave, but not before we stopped just before the gate and got a snow cone (of sorts). The line was long, but I was thirsty as can be! So I wanted one to quench my thirst, and I also wanted to experience the drink that all the locals had too. It was basically a cup with snow-cone like ice and fruit juice poured over the top. I got a coconut and it was yummy…and most importantly…WET & COLD!
We saw lots of people coming in as we were leaving. Like there wasn’t a crowd here already! We even saw a bunch of kids in costumes. Looks like there is going to be lots of entertainment going on tonight!
Out the gate we went, just in time to catch the golf tram again to take us back to the car. The road to get back on Rt. 70 was blocked for cars coming in, so we had to take the back way out. Which was fine because we had a map and figured we would head north and check out a place called Off the Wall. We’ve recently heard and read about it. They have open-mic night and it was just as good a time as any to check it out. It’s right off the side of the road, and next to the ocean. Convenient and beautiful views!
They seemed to be pretty friendly and we sat at the bar and ordered a drink. It’s their 3rd year anniversary so we got a anniversary cupcake (I got a red velvet one) and some key chains! There was also a private tour bus that stopped by (apparently on a pub crawl) and they gave us some Mardi Gras beads too! If we would have stayed till sunset, we would have gotten a free sunset shot! We talked to the owner a bit about the open-mic night and checked out the menu so you can bet we’ll be going over there next Tuesday night so Gerald can play a little bit…hopefully!
(Drink & a cupcake...DINNER!)
After finishing our drinks, we headed back home.
Caught a few pictures of some of the surviving sugar cane plantations that still dot the island.
Gerald sniffed the fritters a little bit in his attempt to assess them, then cut the banana one in half. He didn’t want any of the pumpkin fritter…he doesn’t like pumpkin. Actually, I didn’t think there was much difference between the two. Both tasted like a dense French toast and had lots of cinnamon. I thought some powdered sugar or syrup would have gone nicely with them. But I didn’t have any powdered sugar, so I schmeared on a big blob of cream cheese and that was WAY yummy! The Johnny Cake was good broken up or soaked in the Kallaloo and was also tasty with butter! HA! (no diet food here!)
Well, after eating all that, I’m stuffed. Think I’ll rest a while, take a shower and head to bed! It’s been a busy day and my foot is feeling it!
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