What originally started as an East End function, to delight and unite the people there, has grown to such an extent that it now encompasses the entire island of Anguilla each year. The 2017 Annual ‘Village Ting’, held on Monday, June 19, was the main public activity on the Queen’s Official Birthday Holiday on the island. It was estimated to have been by far the biggest of the previous annual functions, attracting milling throngs from across the island.
By evening the Old East End School grounds were completely filled with a mass crowd of people and a dense mixture of tents, tables and food stalls. Vehicular traffic was at its highest level there with every available parking space in the vicinity tightly jammed. It was an all-day time of cooking, feasting, bicycle racing, domino playing, music and dancing that spilled over well into the night despite overcast skies and sporadic drizzling.
The organising committee came in for much commendation. Speaking on behalf of many others, the Elected Representative for District 2, Mrs. Cora Richardson-Hodge, put the function in perspective during an early media opportunity.
“Today is the fifth year that the ‘Village Ting’ has been in operation and every year it gets bigger and better, “ she told The Anguillian. “As you can see, we have a number of persons out already and, as the evening wears on, more and more people will come. We have a number of artistes that are here. Right now the DJ is playing. We are going to have the Scratch Band, the North Side Sound Band and, close to the end of the evening, we will have Spectrum Band from St. Thomas with some of our Anguillian nationals as part of that band.
“We have all sorts of food ranging from souse, crab, conch fritters, chicken, goat water, baked and fried Johnny cakes. We have so much different foods of the national cuisine – and other displays for the people to enjoy. We have the ice cream van here; a bicycle race and a domino competition are in progress; and later on there will be other activities including face-painting.”
Mrs Richardson-Hodge added: “It is really a function for the entire community, from east to west to come out and be a part of it. First of all, we have to thank our sponsors such as Zemi Beach, Belmond Cap Juluca, FLOW, Tropical Distributors and a number of other sponsors, who have shown their support over the years, like the Tourist Board, ANGLEC and Social Security. Those are the sponsors that really make this happen. In terms of those at the booths, these are persons from the East End community who have come out to sell their cuisine and services for everyone to enjoy.”
