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Update: About an hour after I posted today’s story. The Beach Bar announced that live music will be returning. Updates below. 

Based on what I’ve been reading on social media over the past month, many of you love hearing live music when you are visiting St. John. Well I have good news for you… there is a lot of great live music events happening soon!

Let’s start with The Beach Bar. Live music will return this week beginning tomorrow night. Visit their website for a full music schedule.

Our friends over at The Windmill Bar love live music too, and they are in the midst of planing their annual jam fest. The VI Jam Fest will take place from Thursday, March 6th through Saturday, March 8th. This is a free event that features several great bands. Here is who is playing this year:

Hit Makers and Rum Chasers is returning to St. John from Thursday, March 20th through Saturday, March 22nd. This is a pretty incredible culinary and music event. It is pricey, but there are some pretty big names attached to it like Matt Ramsey of Old Dominion and Mac McAnally. This three-day event costs $2,499 per person. That includes the following:

Click here to learn more about this event and to purchase tickets. 

Lovango Rum Bar has live music daily as well. Their music begins at 5:30 p.m. on the patio. Here is the schedule for the month of February:

Sun Dog Cafe has live music several days a week too. Check out their schedule:

And lastly, Miss Lucy’s holds open mic night every Thursday night from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. This is the only time Miss Lucy’s is open this season. The bar is open and food offerings vary weekly.

Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.

Click Here to Book Now. 

Hello everyone, and happy Saturday! So if you happen to be on island at the moment or of you are an avid reader of everything St. John, you may have noticed that several of our most popular bars are currently closed. The Windmill Bar, Maho Crossroads and Lovango Rum Bar have all been closed due to the health department. Now before you read too much into that, they did not close because they are dirty. They were forced to close due to the health department’s ever-changing and nonsensical requirements.

Let’s start with the basics. In order to operate a restaurant in the USVI, you need a health inspection. This is completely valid. The problem is that there is not list of requirements, and those requirements change as often as we change our underwear. The health department will show up and will fine these restaurants and often close them due to a requirement that is unknown, not written down and never relayed to the business. For example, a fine dining restaurant was told a few years back that all of its servers had to wear hairnets or baseball hats while working. Years ago, the women at Woody’s were told they had to have sleeves and not tank tops while working. Now, have you ever seen anyone at Extra Virgin or The Terrace in a ball cap, for example? Have you ever seen a female server at Woody’s not in a tank top? Of course not, and that’s because that requirement was only valid for a day or two. But it was enough to fine the restaurants at the time.

One of the three restaurants closed currently was fined because nutmeg spilled onto a bar top and made it look dirty. That’s what happens when you make drinks! That was one of the many ridiculous requirements that force these places to close. And what happens next? Businesses lose out on money. The staff loses out on money. The government loses out on taxes. And you all miss out on your vacation.

Now when these restaurants close, it’s not like the health inspectors will come back the next time to make certain the latest requirements have been addressed. They come back when they get to it, which could be days. So right now, you have three extremely busy bars on St. John who are simply waiting for a health inspector to show back up. Will that happen today? Tomorrow? Monday? No one knows.

Now let’s talk about the infamous health card. In order to work in a restaurant on St. John or to handle any sort of food or beverage in the Virgin Islands, you have to give a fecal sample to the health department. Apparently they are checking for worms. Once that’s tested and you pass (none of us believe it’s actually even tested, especially considering that we know people who have provide a sample from a pet), you are given a health card.  This, too, is difficult to attain as the machine that prints out the actual health cards is often broken. So there is yet another hurdle that these restaurants face, one which is often unattainable. You can’t work without a health card, but the government cannot always issue health cards. See how all of this works?

I apologize for today’s rant, but these closures really fire me up. As someone who lives with a man who has managed restaurants on St. John for over 20 years. I can say firsthand that the majority of these closures over the years have nothing to do with food safety, contamination, pest control or anything of the sort. If restaurants closed for those sort of things, I would totally understand and support it. But, again, these places are closing due to the health department’s ever-changing and nonsensical requirements.

I guess I will end today’s rant here. Hopefully our friends over at the Windmill, Maho and Lovango can reopen sooner than later. Have a great weekend everyone.

We returned home from Disney World yesterday (which was amazing by the way!), and our friend Dan (the pool man & Mike’s bestie) graciously picked us up from the ferry dock. As we were driving back to Fish Bay, he mentioned that the 8 Tuff Miles road race is only two weeks away.

“What?!” I exclaimed! I cannot believe it’s that close! My gosh, time flies when you’re having fun!

So yes, the 8 Tuff Miles road race is just a couple of weeks away. The annual event is scheduled for Saturday. February 22nd. I’m so excited!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with 8 Tuff Miles, it’s a running race that spans just over eight miles, 8.3 miles to be exact. It begins behind the ball field in Cruz Bay, heads over to the roundabout and then up Centerline Road (Route 10 on the map). The race begins at sea level, gains 1,000 feet of elevation along the way, and then ends back down at sea level over at the ball field in Coral Bay. But anyone who knows this island knows it’s not simply uphill and then downhill. It’s up, down, up, down, up down, etc. 🙂

According to Dan, who helps out with the post-race party in Mongoose Junction, there are more than 1,000 runners registered so far. Amazing!

The race begins at 7:30 a.m. Centerline Road will be closed that morning until about 10:30 a.m. or so. North Shore Road (the road to the beaches – Route 20 on the map) will not be closed. However you will not be able to drive from Coral Bay to the North Shore beaches that morning from roughly 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.

Want to participate in this year’s race? Click here to register. Registration ends on Wednesday, February 19th.

And, as always, I will be in charge of the final – and most fun! – water station along the route. I will be located with friends at mile 8. We plan to hand out water and Gatorade as instructed for the first hour or so. After that, it’s pure fun! Stop by for beer shots, Painkiller shots, Cruzan shots, and so much more!

This is exactly where we will be stationed:

Want to join in the fun? Please email me at jenn@explorestj.com and I will send you the details.

Thanks all! Have a great day!

Want to learn more about St. John? Take an island tour with me!

Learn more here –> www.explorestj.com/tour

See the island of St. John with a resident. See the nooks and crannies that many visitors miss. Explore the beaches, historical sites, perhaps a tiki bar or two, and much more. Full & half days available. Rated “Excellent” on TripAdvisor.

Click Here to Book Now.