Son of the Soil - Legendary Ronnie Butler performs in Deep Creek for Island School Celebrations.

Ronnie Butler on Stage - Photo by The Eleutheran

(Deep Creek, Eleuthera) Valentine's Day in South Eleuthera was decidedly different and special on Saturday when the legendary Ronnie Butler lit up the stage at the new 'Junkanoo Park' in Deep Creek in front of a large crowd of Eleuthera natives and visitors.  His performance was the climax of a Street Fair held in Deep Creek as part of the 10th Anniversary weekend activities being celebrated by the Island School in Cape Eleuthera.  The crowd soaked in Ronnie's soulful Bahamian ballads while dancing under the stars, disregarding the chilly air on the perfectly clear evening.  
 
A son of the soil, Ronnie Butler was happy to sit with us earlier that day to share more about his love for the Island that gave birth to both of his parents. "Roots, ties, trees and everything else - I've got it here.  My father was from Green Castle and my mother was from Bannerman Town, so you can't be more rooted than that and I'm proud to be able to say that." the Bahamian Legend commented.

He continued, "I was telling someone the other day that at one time I had traveled away for about a year and I didn't miss Nassau until I saw it - coming in on the plane I saw the island - and that's when it hit me, how much I love and missed my country.  The same thing happened to me yesterday morning when I was coming here.  All those years away, but when I landed here…I felt, hey, I'm home, that's the feeling I got and it was a beautiful feeling.  So my roots [in Eleuthera] are deep down inside me and they are not coming out."  He recalled spending some of his early boyhood years living and playing in Bannerman Town, and reminisced about looking for 'shad' [a kind of fish] in Mackey Pond as cherished memories.

Joining Ronnie Butler on stage were two beautiful and talented young dancers from Nassau, Zerlene and Devia, who both credit early girlhood experiences in Junkanoo as being the inspiration sparking their passion for the art of dance.

Ronnie Butler, now semi-retired, has performed all over the island of Eleuthera in the past including, Harbour Island in the north, Governor's Harbour in central Eleuthera, and Green Castle, his paternal home town in the south.