Feb. 2, 2002 – Gourmet chefs and bartenders are invited to sign up to compete at the third annual Tickles Fest benefit for the Victim Advocate Program. And artists and artisans are encouraged to reserve space to show their work.
Also welcome to get involved in the festival are dinghy owners, people who love a costume party and a parade, and anyone looking for live music, Cajun food, lots of fun and even a date to enjoy it all with.
The fest is a week-long event that starts Wednesday at Tickles Restaurant.
Things get going Wednesday with the regular weekly Open Mike Night from 7 to 10 p.m. Anyone who plays, sings or otherwise entertains is welcome to join in.
There will be live music by an act to be announced from 7 to 10 p.m. on Thursday and by the Stevie Legend Band from 7 to 10 on Friday.
On Feb. 9, fine artists will show their work from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the walkway around the Crown Bay Marina open-air eatery. Exhibitors are welcome to set up shop with easels and sketchbooks and let marina denizens and doings inspire them as festival visitors look on.
On Feb. 10, the festival kicks into high gear. From 3 to 11 p.m., visitors will be able to take in an arts and crafts show (exhibitors will donate 10 percent of their proceeds to the Victim Advocates), listen to live music, buy tickets for hourly 50/50 cash raffles (with the other half going to the group), bid on bachelors and bachelorettes up for auction, and make offers in the silent auction of donated items including jewelry, crystal, wine and liquor, dining certificates, sailing daytrips and $1,000 worth of advertising from Pirate Radio.
A cook-off against the clock
A highlight of the day will be the cookoff between chefs, with competitors expected mainly to be those who work aboard luxury yachts. It's to get under way at 3:30 p.m. in a tent set up at the head of the marina's "C" dock.
"We need to limit it to eight people, and first preference will be to yacht chefs," Tickles general manager Peter Zachko says. He adds that there's a bit of a risk, in that "you can get cancellations if the yacht owner gets a charter and you've got to go." This will be an Iron Chef competition, he explains, based on the popular Food Network television show of the same name, and "spectators will be able to watch."
"Iron Chef," a show produced in Japan, pits chef against chef in a cook-off against the clock that has been termed "Kamikaze cooking." Participants get an hour to prepare a four- or five-course meal using a key ingredient which is revealed on the spot. CNN compared the program with "the theatrics of pro wrestling, the pace of a game show and the culinary expertise of 'Cooking with Julia.'" The concept has inspired local versions across the nation, often as part of fund-raising efforts for worthy causes.
The Tickles Fest chefs "will each do a different full-course meal," Zachko says, cooking on a grill and gas burners, and the only advance clue they get is that it will involve seafood. They'll have not an hour, but 45 minutes — and that includes dashing to the Gourmet Gallery foodstore next to Tickles to grab seasonings and accompaniments.
Since the chefs will prepare single servings and four judges will be tasting the results, there won't be any food for the audience to try. However, Zachko says, "We may have some of them prepare something that night for the restaurant."
Once the chefs have delivered their dishes to the judges, it's the mix masters' turn to test their skills. "Anyone can enter the best-bartender competition," Debbie LaFleche, a Tickles manager, says. "You can just show up that day, or call anytime and talk to the manager on duty."
Open to all local bartenders, it's "mostly a speed competition," Zachko says. "They'll be judged on the four fastest drinks, for speed and accuracy. Everybody will mix the same thing, and we'll have everything set up for them." Reliable experts — "people from West Indies Corp. and a couple of restaurant managers" — will be judging, he notes. WICorp. and Pirate Radio are the event's major sponsors.
With so much going on that Sunday, the Tickles folks have proclaimed Feb. 11, "Chill-Out Day" to give everybody a chance to rest — and work on their costumes and dinghy decorations.
Ending in the Mardi Gras manner
The grand finale on Feb. 12 will feature the decorated dinghy parade at 5:30 p.m., live music from 6:30 p.m., Cajun menu specials all night, a crawfish-eating contest, prizes for Best Costume and Best Original Mask, and dancing into the night.
For the parade, "Anyone can decorate their dinghies and motor or row them around the marina," LaFleche says. Advance signup would be appreciated, but they'll go with the flow. Last year's entries included "a Viking ship and a pirate ship with a potato cannon," Zachko recalls. "Once things got started, some of the boats at the marina just dropped their dinghies and joined in."
Winners of the various competitions will not go unrewarded. "We're collecting prizes and will decide who gets what once we see what've got on Tuesday," LaFleche says. To register for an event or to learn more, call 776-1595 and talk to a Tickles manager.
The annual Tickles Fest coincides with Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, Mardi Gras in New Orleans and all the other partying traditions that precede the start of Christians' observance of Lent with Ash Wednesday, which falls on Feb. 13 this year.
"With all the megayachts at the marina, as well as the local community and other island visitors, the turnout at past fests has been strong," a Victim Advocate volunteer says.
Victim Advocates are trained volunteers who donate their time and compassion to assist and advise victims of crime and tragedy. Those they serve include victims of crime, family members who have lost a loved one, and people beset by accident or sudden illness. Their services are available around the clock.
The St. Thomas not-for-profit organization, in existence for more than two decades, "is always in need of funds — to meet emergency needs for victims and to provide the volunteers with an effective communication system," the volunteer said.
Zachko has been behind the festival and its fund-raising purpose from the start. He became aware of the Victim Advocate Program after someone aboard a megayacht tied up at the marina got his hand caught in some machinery and then lost it. "I saw what they did for him, the help and the counseling," he says.
Looking into the organization after that, he learned that "they get no government support, and that they do a little of everything for a lot of people and really make a difference."