A committee comprising main sponsor CC1, the SHTA board, and representatives of both island tourism bureaus, the St. Maarten Hospitality & Trade Association (SHTA), has announced “Love In Spring Garden” as the 2027 “Cultural Icon” to be featured on the SHTA Events calendar in the new year.
As motivation for its nomination, SHTA highlighted the play as a “creative and passionate approach to preserving island history and culture in a fun way, that inspires and educates both citizens and visitors”. Additionally, the association praised the binational character of the production.
The play, involving a variety of actors from both sides of the island, is performed twice a week at Colombier’s Heritage Village and provides an immersive experience of St. Maarten’s story and that of Colombier, island culture, and food. The event was the idea of sisters Ghyslaine Richardson and Helene Richardson, the theatrical production written by Ghyslaine Richardson and directed in music and choreography by Clara Reyes. Alongside a professional theatre production centered on a love story set in Colombier, audiences are treated to traditional island delicacies such as Johnny Cakes, coconut water and guavaberry rum from the same hills of Colombier where the play is performed.
All of this with a touch of “Jollification”. Reyes: “Jollification is one of the core cultural values of Saint Martin. Jollification is the coming together as a whole community to make food, or to build homes. The village heritage tour includes a presentation on the Arrowroot Jollification.The history of arrow root jollification, which includes planting, the harvesting, the washing the grating, to the refinement process of making the Farine – resulting in delicious Arrow Root porridge to taste.”
The play features Lorenzo Gomez as Polite Flanders, Benjamin Bell as Nathan, Naomi Warsop as Ms. Mariann, Karim Toulen as Rosie, Kyro Vanterpool as Narrator and Pauline Gumbs as Queen Of Hopehill. Charika Caines of CC1:”As the main sponsor of the SHTA Events Calendar, CC1 is proud to support an initiative that celebrates and preserves the rich culture, history, and creative talent of St. Maarten. Through its partnership with SHTA, CC1 continues to support initiatives that connect the community, celebrate local heritage, and contribute to the continued visibility of the island’s cultural identity.”
Since its inception in 2017, the SHTA Events Calendar has featured a Cultural Icon in an effort to support the preservation of island culture and introduce the creative industry to a wider audience. The 2026 (current) Cultural Icon is the National Institute of Arts (NIA).
Mrs. Arlene Halley, founder and executive director of the National Institute of Arts, believes “Love in Spring” is in for a similar experience:
“Being featured on such a prestigious and widely circulated calendar, especially on a milestone edition, was a dream come true for me. And to be the first organization, rather than an individual to be featured was an honor. It has long been our goal to make NIA a household name and with the circulation this calendar reaches I think we have just about achieved that.”
The NIA organization added: “We can only imagine the surprise, recognition and extreme pride that is felt by any NIA supporter when the NIA-featured calendar is spotted somewhere on the island on a wall.”
Before NIA, Cultural Icons included fashion designer Zillah Duzon-Hazel (2025), painters Ruby Bute (2024) and Roland Richardson (2022), Calypsonian Leroy “King Beaubeau” Brooks (2023), steelpan expert Isidore “Mighty Dow” York (2021), and choreographer Clara Reyes (2020). Reyes is also co-founder and co-director of current cultural icon NIA.
Previous calendars highlighted Carnival as a major cultural event. This will be the first time a play or actors will be highlighted, and only the second time a group will be featured as cultural icon instead of a single artist, 2026 being the first time. In the 2026 calendar, NIA was represented by four models, each representing a different artistic discipline, who were photographed at historic Fort Amsterdam. The four NIA models reflected the diversity of the organization’s artistic community. Shiloh Bedminister of NIA, now passing the proverbial “baton” to Love in Spring Garden, said: “Seeing myself featured in artwork on a calendar displayed all around the island was such an amazing and proud feeling. My friends and family were really excited and proud when they spotted it, and it was special knowing that my art was being seen and appreciated by so many people.”
Ms. Mila Grandtner shared a similar sense of excitement: “Seeing our pictures on the calendar all over the island feels incredible and exciting! It’s been so much fun having friends recognize me and call it out whenever they spot the poster hanging. It feels amazing to represent NIA like this, especially because I truly appreciate everything, they do for me and others.” For Ms. Shannell Bucknor, the experience was both exciting and meaningful: “Seeing my art featured on a calendar displayed throughout the island was an incredibly exciting and meaningful experience. I felt truly grateful for the opportunity to represent NIA and to have my work shared with the wider community in Sint Maarten. My friends and family were extremely excited and proud when they discovered my work in different places, which made the experience even more special.”
Nyah Kalmera described the experience as both rewarding and surprising: “It felt very accomplishing and good to see myself on the SHTA calendar that I see all over the island every year, especially after wondering how they chose the featured picture of the year. My friends and family were extremely surprised and proud of me when they saw me and my NIA friends on the calendar.”
The calendar is printed 30,000 times and is seen online just as often. Next to CC1, SHTA thanks Telem, AMA Jewelers, Grant Thornton, Office du Tourisme de Saint Martin and the St. Maarten Tourism Bureau, who have supported the calendar project for many years and dispersed editions to their network and customers.
As is the case every year, the calendar can be freely obtained by reserving a copy via events@shta.com. Events can be submitted via the same email address until September 15th.