By:Curtis Morton
Charlestown –Nevis-The Community Development Department, under the supervision of Coordinator Mrs. Janet Meloney, held its second annual ‘Miracle on Main Street’ extravaganza on Friday 11th December.
The activity commenced at about 9 am with the first phase of the two part affair, which was the sale of traditional foods.
The area of Main Street, next to the DR Walwyn Plaza, was cordoned off by the Traffic Department, to facilitate the erection of booths. These included: The Abattoir with their variety of choice cuts, of a variety of meats, at reduced prices; The Agro processing unit which provided patrons with a delicious variety of smoothies, made from locally grown fresh fruits; Mrs. Olvis Dyer, with her locally made jams and jellies; Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester Wallace who served up some traditional Christmas dishes at a low cost and other vendors who had a wide variety of items on sale.
The sale of food items went on throughout the afternoon and then the second phase of the day’s activity, commenced belatedly sometime after 4 pm.
This segment of the day’s activities was the entertainment phase where the focus was on the traditional sports of yesteryear with an emphasis on allowing the older folks to reminisce on the ‘good ole days;’ allowing the younger folks to be educated on such happenings and ultimately to hopefully encourage the younger folks to fall in love with and seek to maintain such traditions.
This segment opened with prayer by Rev. Othniel Daley and was ably chaired by Permanent Secretary within the Ministry of Social Development, Mr. Keith Glasgow and featured such traditional sports as: Masquerades; Cake walk; Clowns; Giant despair; Sweet Lemon; Red cross; Jonny Walker; Japanese girls and the May pole dancers.
Each of these performances was uniquely presented and in many instances created much laughter and hilarity amongst the scores of spectators.
Coordinator at the Social Development Department, Mrs. Janet Meloney and her staff, would have experienced a long, hard day but ought to have found it quite fulfilling, based on the many complimentary statements thrown in their direction, by many of the attendees.