There'll be "Art in the Alleys, Dancing in the Streets" and more to attract residents and visitors to the heart of Charlotte Amalie Friday, as the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce Destination Downtown Committee stages another in its series of occasional "lively Friday" extravaganzas.
This one will offer enticements not only at night but starting at noon.
The chamber's interest is to enable member merchants and restaurants to do a little extra after-hours business by enticing folks to come downtown for an enjoyable evening outing who wouldn't otherwise to so. But with cruise ships in port, the same applies to passengers, so things will kick off at noon with music by the William Hayes Steel Combo playing on Main Street at Nye Gade. The North Stars, another steel ensemble, takes over at 2, performing in Trompeter Gade.
By 4 p.m., artists and artisans will be exhibiting — in hopes of selling — their wares in the alleys and side streets linking the waterfront and Back Street. And at 5 p.m. most downtown merchants will not be closing their doors, for a change, but staying open to welcome after-hours shoppers. With Main Street turned into a mall, the strip in front of the Enid M. Baa Library will be transformed, as usual, into a giant chalk board, with kids encouraged to make their creative contributions.
Throughout the evening, there will be music and dance at assorted downtown sites by Fusion Band, the Bertha C. Boschulte Burning Blazers Steelband, Pan in Motion, the Mystical Moko Jumbies and the Macislan Bamboula Dancers. From sunset until at least 9 p.m., big-band music for dancing will be provided by P'Your Passion at Market Square and Imaginations Brass in the Palm Passage parking lot.
This Destination Downtown event, like all the others recently, has "the Best Beers in the World" as its major sponsor. The brews, all distributed by Bellows International, will be sold at the chamber bar set up on Main Street (as will soft drinks and bottled water).
Promotion of pre-holiday season shopping is the underlying theme of the festivities. The next traditional Destination Downtown event, "Miracle on Main Street," will be held the week before Christmas. But by then, of course, all shoppers can expect to find is what the early birds didn't get.