Island Harbour beach for Festival del Mar.
ANGUILLA--Current pandemic protocols did not dampen the island’s celebratory participation in Anguilla’s 15th anniversary of Festival del Mar activities. Held on Saturday, April 3, to Sunday, April 4, in the fishing village of Island Harbour over the Easter weekend, this festival celebrates all things of the sea – especially various, delicious seafood and competitive boat racing. Persons young and old came out to eat, drink and socialise, with the crowd size growing as day turned to evening and temperatures cooled.
Boat race for B class boats at Island Harbour.
Chairman of this year’s festival committee Damien “Vaughn” Harrigan, who has been involved with the festival since its inception 15 years ago, said planning for the festival usually starts in October of the preceding year. However, due to the pandemic, this year’s committee of four members only received permission to hold the festival in February 2021, leaving them very little time to pull details together. Harrigan said, “All things considered, this year’s festival can be considered a success. We have successfully continued this cultural and positive festival.” He said crowd participation far exceeded what was expected.
In less than two months, the committee sourced at least ten participating vendors to sell seafood and drink, as well as specialised fruit drinks. A young entrepreneur came on board to sell beauty products for the first time. The trend to expand and have a more diverse selection of offerings, such as art, will continue to be encouraged for years ahead.
Some big draw activities and competitions such as the deep-sea competition had to be cancelled. This competition historically involves a large number of fishermen from the neighbouring island of St. Maarten who were unable to participate this year due to closed borders and quarantine restrictions. Harrigan said, “The competition will be missed, as it highlights the great camaraderie between fishermen in both Anguilla and St. Maarten.” Other smaller activities and events that were cancelled include the fishing race and the swimming relay race.
However, the Class B boat race was held on Sunday, with five boats racing from Island Harbour to Shoal Bay and back. The winners were the F5 Tornado in 1st place, the Hurricane in 2nd and De Storm in 3rd place. Sparse sponsorship due to current economic difficulties were augmented by the Festival Del Mar committee sponsoring the race, with cash prizes of US$500, $300 and $200 respectively awarded to the first three places. Although the monetary value of the prizes is less than in previous years, Harrigan said that the boat crews realised that the money is just not there.
There was both recorded and live music for both days, with well-known local groups and artists performing to throngs of fans well into the night. Bankie Banx and Omari Banks performed alongside the Vito Band and Mystic Vibes. The line-up also included Darvin Mussington and his string band, along with Pokey and The Crew and others.
