COME Easter weekend, all roads will be leading to the gateway to the interior, Bartica in Essequibo, for the annual Bartica Regatta celebrations.While this usually entails a packed weekend of activities, organisers have, this year, 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 which 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 so do.

The Bartica Regatta weekend will retain most of its traditional activities, and the celebration will commence on March 29 with a Kiddies Fun Fair at the Bartica Community Centre.

Budhesh Chatterpaul, Chairman of AJ Promotions, a promoter of the event, explained that this new feature was added because there previously were hardly any activities that catered for the children. They can now 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 hold-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 wind down throughout the day as they enjoy 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.