Coming on the heels of a successful Festival Del Mar in April, on Monday, 6th June, the Welches Fest Committee put on a series of Whit-Monday activities, on the field in the Welches Village, which was just as successful as Del Mar.
Folks of all ages from all across the island, as well as neighbouring St. Martin/St. Maarten, took time out during the day to partake of the festive fun and food that make Anguilla Anguillian.
Welches Fest is a coming together of local food vendors on the field in Welches every Whit-Monday, particularly to display cultural dishes and enjoy cultural fun. It gives older residents renewed tastes of déjà vu – memories of how our food used to be – and it introduces to the younger heads the food flavours that their forebears cherished.
Due to Covid protocol restrictions, there was no Welches Fest in 2020 nor 2021. The last fest in 2019 was magnificent, but last Monday’s 2022 event was nothing short of superb.
Featured foods included: yard fowl soup; cow skin soup; and head n’ foot soup (all with the indigenous dumplings); fried fish with peas and rice; corn porridge; guinea corn porridge; and flour pap, among others. Delicacies comprised baked and fried Johnny cakes smeared with butter, or filled with cheese or sausage; sweet potato pudding; bread pudding; old fashion pound cake and conch fritters. Drinks included the popular ginger beer, mauby, sea moss, tamarind and pink lemonade.
There was also a stall that carried vegan food and drinks such as ital soup, coconut drops, ‘milkless’ sea moss, and tamarind beverage – all strictly plant based.
Overall, there was something for every palate against the backdrop of local string-band music. Both food and music created an inviting ambiance with an irresistible appeal to the senses.
The Anguillian spoke with Head of the Welches Fest Committee, Mrs. Susan Smith. She gave us her views on an event that has come to be a traditional Whit-Monday attraction: “This year, we contemplated hard whether or not we would have a Welches Fest,” she said, “seeing that we are not yet ‘out of the woods’ with Covid. But we finally opted to carry on with it and, as you can see, the people were waiting for it. They wanted somewhere to go to, and since Welches Fest is a traditional Whit-Monday get-away, they are here today.”
Asked what were her impressions when compared to past Welches Fests, she answered: “Well, there is hardly a comparison. This year is definitely bigger and better. This year, instead of providing only Anguilla’s authentic dishes, we thought that we would include our Caribbean neighbours and make it an authentic Caribbean Food Fair.”
We also spoke with one of the many vendors and tried to get her take on the revived event: “It’s a welcome back for our Welches Fest,” she said. “We know that during the Covid our activities were dampened or, for the most part, non-existent, but thank God we can be out again. The crowd at this time of the day is just coming and going, but by this afternoon when it cools down, we expect the crowd to pick up.”
The Welches Fest Committee wishes to use this medium to express its thanks to all persons and entities that have contributed to the success of this year’s fest. Among these are the Anguilla Tourist Board, FLOW, MAICO, Cap Juluca Hotel, and the Department of Youth and Culture. The Committee would also like to thank all the booth operators, and helpful members of the Welches community.
Thanks is also extended to those who willingly worked behind the scenes, year after year, as well as the Royal Anguilla Police Force, Hulls Lighting, Briggy, Gaf, and Junie Fleming.
Welches Fest was originated and organised by a special committee, and was spearheaded through the work and influence of all the Vanterpool siblings: children of Helena and Maxwell (“Snail”) Vanterpool. Their humble homestead, where they grew up, lies on the fringes of the Welches Fest field.
Their work, and that of the Committee, got underway in the early hours of Monday morning and each one of them was hectically engaged in supplying the needs of demanding breakfast customers.
Throughout the course of Monday night, the gentle trade winds blew the calypso sounds of the Fest to the neighbouring villages – sounds that create fond memories of the homegrown Welches Festival, til next year’s Whit- Monday, all being well.
