‘One Guyana’ Cricket Carnival Road parade takes last lap
Guyanese came out in their numbers on Sunday in a festival of colours bringing to a close just over two weeks of the first ever cricket carnival celebration.
Guyana became a showpiece of music, costumes, and merriment – where the streets of Georgetown came alive with the tapestry of the Caribbean Community of nations.
Guyana unified a community of nations around cricket and carnival under the leadership of His Excellency, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali.
This message was echoed by Minister of Tourism, Industry, and Commerce Oneidge Walrond who was present on the ground.
“Cricket Carnival has been a learning journey, but a rewarding one with less than a year to plan all of this, when the president highlighted what his vision was for the cricket carnival after we completed the process to host the CPL semi-finals and Final; the president said we can do a carnival attached to this, with signature events across every region in Guyana.”
The atmosphere was nothing short of phenomenal, bringing the final leg of the Cricket Carnival lineup to an unforgettable end.
The parade began at the corner of Church Street and Avenue of the Republic, with the procession heading east on Church Street, and then North into Irving Street, culminating at the Kitty roundabout.
The energy of electrifying Soca, Chutney, and Kaiso blasting through the air created the medium for cricket patrons, both local and foreign, to gyrate and galivant to what can only be termed as a captivating celebration.
United States Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah-Ann Lynch and High Commissioner of India to Guyana, Dr K J Srinivasa were also in attendance at the parade.
Minister Walrond, captured what has truly been a Guyanese first under the PPP/C Government.
“One of the things that I am proud of is that all our events were conducted safely, that in its self, is a testament to our strong tourism brand. We have seen our town, our city come alive, for two whole weeks they have been so much happening, visitors have said that Guyana feels alive and that is what we want, what we set out to do, to make Guyana a tourist destination that will translate into benefits for our people, especially small business.”
Meanwhile, DPI spoke with a few revellers as they made their way through the streets of Georgetown.
“My name is Timothy Willings, and I’m repping the Pulse warriors…Pulse is the best.”
Another carnival participant said, “The energy is nice, we love it…our costume is nice and flourishing in the nice Caribbean colour. It shows everything.”
Popular artiste, Adrian Dutch in said, “I am a Guyanese. I am loving Guyana and Cricket Carnival, shout out to the president and his team for the awesome job.”
“Here out on the road for cricket carnival. We are about to have an amazing time on the road, looking forward to seeing everybody out there” one patron said with exuberance as the crowd continue with the celebration.
Cricket Carnival as a signature event will accelerate Guyana into fulfilling its transformative agenda, to benefit every Guyanese, in every region of the Cooperative Republic.