Carnival in St. Thomas This Year? Bryan Says Preliminary Plans Include Village But No Parades.

There will be some level of carnival activity in St. Thomas this year, but preliminary planning point to a less spectacular event with no parades or jouvert, as Covid-induced restrictions continue to upend life around the world.

Speaking during an interview with the Consortium Sunday, Governor Albert Bryan said the plans he's seen from the V.I. Dept. of Tourism so far include Village nights and some other activities - similar to the scaled back event that was planned for St. Croix at the Agricultural Fair Grounds before those plans were abandoned when the Omicron surge of Covid-19 affected the USVI late December 2021 into early January.

"Tourism right now, they're not looking at a parade, they're looking at Village with controlled entry based on vaccinations. That's what's being proposed right now," said Governor Bryan, who said his conversations with the Dept. of Tourism so far have been preliminary. Even so, Mr. Bryan was wary of approving events such as parades and jouvert during a pandemic that has proven to be unpredictable.

"I can't endorse a parade and then we have something happen two weeks [before] and all this preparation, all this money spent, and then there's no parade. That's too much," he said. "I think we have enough runway to do Village, get some entertainment in; I'm still up in the air about vaccine or no vaccine in the Village."