Lobster, music and fun in Anegada

A record number of restaurants took part in the 12th annual Anegada Lobster Festival over the weekend, drawing praise from enthusiastic visitors despite attendance that participants said was down from previous years.

Visitors came by air and sea, stopping by 13 participating restaurants for food, drinks and fun.

For the BVI Tourist Board, which organised the festival, a main focus this year was supporting those restaurants, according to BVITB Events Coordinator Yohance Smith.

“We tried to inject a lot more into the businesses,” Mr. Smith told the Beacon. “One of the things that we implemented this year was the sampler system, where we had given each of the participating restaurants that signed up and wanted to get that injection a stipend of $500 so that we could give the public free samplers to their restaurants. So that way we can give a little bit more foot traffic to them.”

‘Alffy Trophy’

This was also the first year the festival featured a sampler competition, with a chef from St. Martin serving as judge.

“We encourage a little more friendly competition,” Mr. Smith said.

The inaugural winner, which received the locally made “Alffy Trophy” for best lobster sampler, was Sid’s Pomato Point Restaurant, which offered a lobster corn dog sampler.

Second place went to the Anegada Beach Club, third place to Anegada Reef Hotel.

The festivities began Friday, and they gathered steam as the weekend progressed, according to Mr. Smith.

“Friday was just like a welcome,” Mr. Smith said. “So when the people got here, different restaurants had their own little atmosphere, their own vibe, just welcoming people. Saturday was a chill. That’s the chill day that gets the restaurants ready and anticipating the Sunday. Sunday is mostly the crazy day.”

Excitement for Anegada

Jasmine Dalmida, a Tortola native who now lives in St. John, has been attending the festival for years. Her favourite part of the event, she said, is “Anegada itself.”

“It’s just the excitement of home. This is the time of year to go to Anegada,” she said.

Ms. Dalmida noticed that this year’s festival was not as busy as previous years’, but she said that did not stop the fun.

“Year after year, everything is the same,” she said. “And the people are always great. The food is always great. The rum is always coming.”

She added, though, that she would like to see more cultural elements included in the annual festivities.

“I’d like to see something more cultural when we get off the dock and make us feel like, ‘Yes, we are home,’” she said.

A good start, she added, would be to enlist moko jumbies to perform for arriving passengers.

Other visitors said they wish it were easier to get around the island during the event.

“If there are buses just going ’round [more often] … and it’s a bit cheaper, rather than being monopolised by the rental companies, which all sell out anyway, it makes sense,” Sophie Christodaulou said.

Local involvement Health and Social Development Minister Vincent Wheatley, who is the district representative for Anegada and Virgin Gorda, said the BVITB has been trying for years to create a local committee to help organise the festival.

“One of the things we want to do is to kind of decentralise the festivals,” Mr. Wheatley told the Beacon. “We have festivals all over, and it’s important that you have a local group who can contribute and give guidance, so to speak, on what’s the best thing to do for this community.”

BVITB Director Clive McCoy said his agency involved the Anegada community in the planning process this year more than in the past.

This effort, he said, included holding community meetings on the sister island.

Eventually, the BVITB hopes the local community will take over and organise the event itself, according to the director.

“Next year we plan to involve them even more in the planning process, because we want it to be an event that the community comes together and [puts] on, outside of the Tourist Board,” he said. “We will support them, but we want them to own it, and that is what the plans are for next year.”

‘Very good for us’

Glenora Vanterpool, who owns Pink Flamingo with her husband Jerry, supported the idea of involving the community more in the event planning.

“What they’re doing is very good for us,” she said. “That helps us to know what is going on.”

This was the sixth year the Vanterpools’ restaurant has taken part in the event, and Ms. Vanterpool plans to continue to participate.

“We get the support, and we see more and more people coming around to enjoy our lobster sandwich, which is our sampler,” Ms. Vanterpool said. “So that pushes us to go further with it every year.”

But Bell Creque, who owns Cow Wreck Bar and Grill, said it would be a “mistake” for the BVITB to turn the event over to the islands’ residents.

The local community, she said, “cannot hold together long enough” for the task.

“It has to be organised by the Tourist Board, and then we participate in the project,” she added. “We cannot do it on our own. At least, I won’t.”

Ms. Creque’s restaurant has been participating in the annual event since its inception.

She said this year’s festival was “good,” but she did not think the BVITB put its “full participation into the businesses.”

As an example, she said participating restaurants are typically provided with items to hand out to guests, but this year it was “just a stamp.”

Outside vendors?

Mr. Wheatley spoke highly of this year’s event, highlighting the quality of food and service.

“I’m pleased to see that the local vendors have stepped up the game a bit, [improving] the service, improving the waiting time, and improving the quality of what they’re giving,” the minister said.

He added that he would like to allow “outside vendors — to some extent — to have a presence” at the Lobster Festival.

Though he acknowledged this idea is “contentious,” he said it’s important for the territory to “show inclusivity in all of our festivals.”

“All the other festivals, everywhere in the BVI, are open to everyone,” Mr. Wheatley said. “And I’d like to see more of that happen here.”

He added, though, that the move should be done in a “correct way” to make sure it does not “take away from any Anegada businesses.”