Come Easter weekend, all roads will be leading to Bartica, Essequibo, for the annual Bartica Regatta celebrations. While there is usually a packed weekend of activities, this year, organisers have scaled back on several events due to financial constraints.
The much anticipated Miss Bartica Regatta Pageant has been cancelled, but patrons can still look forward to an exciting new feature – a fashion show. The show will be featuring the work of three local designers – Tiffany Alleyne, Jo Ann Lynch, and Dwight Beaton.
According to Bartica Regatta Committee Coordinator Elisabeth Moonsammy, this new activity will provide a forum for fashion designers from the mining community to showcase their talents, as they do not get many opportunities to do.
The Bartica Regatta weekend will retain most of its annual activities. The celebration will commence on March 29 with a Kiddies Fun Fair at the Bartica Community Centre.
Budhesh Chatterpaul, Chairman of AJ Promotions, one of the promoters of the event, explained that this new feature was added, because previously, there was hardly any activities that catered for the children. They can look forward to exciting games, trampolines and other fun activities.
Then on April 3, Good Friday, the Gospel Concert will be held. On Saturday, the finals of the football tournament will be hosted and some eight teams are expected to compete for the title. This will be followed by the customary Street Party in the evening, which is expected to be off the hook.
Sunday’s activities will kick off with the annual “Run Bartica Run” road race around the community. Afterwards, patrons will head down to the beach for the power-boat races that will feature prominent participants such as Dave Scott and Neil Gonsalves.
This year, there will be no held over for the boat races unless the weather and water conditions do not favour the completion of the races. The fashion show will follow in the evening, complete with a showstopper that will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go towards a local Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Bartica.
Then on Monday, patrons can wine down throughout the day enjoying the mining community before heading to the Community Centre in the night for the “Wash Down” Chutney/Soca Concert, which will feature local and international artistes. The sensational and energetic party boss Ravi B is slated to perform alongside Nadia Batson and other local artistes.
Sponsors for the Bartica Regatta Weekend include: BK International, Banks DIH, Digicel, ANSA McAL Trading, DDL and RY Mining.