Carnival here is nothing like it is in NO. Here it is a festival locals put on for themselves, unlike NO where the majority of attendees that line parade routes are tourists.

Hello,

I noticed in another post you mentioned you would be on St. Thomas May 1st and 2nd continuing on to St. John on the 2nd. May 1st is the children's parade. Hundreds of children participate, from toddlers to teens. The children participate in troupes and like the adults parade on May 2nd the troupes each have a theme. For the children it might be clowns, fish and other marine life, cartoon characters... often fantasy related. They dance and perform in costume representing their theme along the parade route to live and recorded music played from the back of trucks.

On May 2nd its the adults parade, some teens participate in this, usually majorette groups, but largely the participants are adults. Some troupes have a few dozen members and some have a few hundred members. The troupes themes also might include fantasy, but also history, traditionals like mocko jumbies and Indians, sometimes its fun themes like a blast from the disco era or something like that. The costumes represent the theme. In the large troupes there are usually several different costumes. Usually their is a king or queen of the band with the large troupes and their costume might be very large stretching from one side of the parade route to the other, framework with wheels helping the masquerader carry and support the weight. Often the large troupes come down the parade route toward the middle and end of the parade. A lot of the costumes for women in general for the parade are bikini and full piece swimsuits with feathers, sequins, fabric, beads and varies decorative designs added. All the participants dance and perform to music often performed by a live band riding in the back of a truck in front of the troupe. There are also steel pan bands that participate. Its loud, hot, full of color and creativity, fun, lots of dancing.

As for recommendations; if you are on island both days during the parade hours you can head over to main street and catch a couple hours. You can walk along the sidewalk rather than staying in one spot if you want to see more of it, it moves a bit slow particularly with the large groups so if you are trying to see more during a short period of time then go ahead and walk along. If you have more time then do what a lot of residents do, bring a cooler of drinks and snacks, find a good spot and watch the parade pass by.

Bring your camera to take photos.

--Islander

I have been to NO as well as many here in STT. As said above the carnival here is much more focused on the locals doing their thing. Thge floats and activities are all the output of individuals. And there is some activities for everyone. In NO it is more of a party for the people that visit. More activities are focused in on the actual drinking and having fun.

So to cut to the short of this, if you mwant to party all day long, drink, and do those thinhs then NO is for you. If you want to see the locals have fun, and then do a little drinking and party, then come here.

billd