IT all began in 1995, when businessman, Norville Fredericks, popularly known as ‘Fredco’, had what is commonly referred to these days as “an epiphany”.
At the time, Fredericks said, then President, Dr Cheddi Jagan had designated 1996 “Visit Guyana Year”. And the thought struck him, “It would be so nice if Linden can be a part of those events.”
And, being the man of action that he is, and a member of the Linden Chamber of Commerce, ‘Fredco’ wasted no time in seeking an audience with then Director of Tourism, Mr. Donald Sinclair, who just so happened to be in Linden to meet and brainstorm ideas with regional officials.
And he did not just want to talk; he’d walked with about 10 possible ideas on how best to sell Linden.
After going those ideas over with him, Fredericks said, one seemed to have struck a chord with Sinclair.
Recalling the incident as if it were yesterday, ‘Fredco’ said:
“Mr. Sinclair said to me, ‘The one with the town day seems to have more merit than the others. Why don’t you put it on paper! Let’s have a discussion on it!’
“I did. And by February of 1996, we held a meeting. At that time, Mr. Abdool Kadir was the Mayor and the entire suggestion was adopted. And from that, we started planning for the 1996 Town Day.”

FROM ONE TO THREE DAYS
From 1996 to 1998, the celebration of Linden Town Day was a one-day event, which was held on a Sunday and aimed at selling Linden’s potential for investment. The occasion was also used, ‘Fredco’ said, to boost the township’s economic growth and to showcase its wealth of talents, achievements and skills.
Then, having achieved this aim, the LTD Committee decided to expand the event to three weekend days. But after things took a political slant, Fredericks, having decided he wanted no part of that, eventually left the committee.
Looking back, Fredericks said: “That was a huge success; at least seven different events, and at least six of them came off successful by 1998.

“By 1999, the other members came back in and by 2001, it started going more political; the politics was too thick for me.”
With him gone, Fredericks said, his recognition as the ‘founder’ was soon forgotten, and he was forced to watch on helplessly as the LTD became but a figment of what he once envisioned it to be.
“It moved from being an economic event, to more of a revenue event as the Council took it over; revenue in the sense of the Council looking to sell it off to one or two persons,” Fredericks said, adding:
“But before that, it was set to benefit the entire population of Linden, and it was set not only to benefit economically but socially and culturally.”
Then, in the early 2000s, the Linden Mayor and Town Council took full control of LTD and the event was eventually franchised off. One of the earlier franchise holders was the Kashif and Shanghai group.

EVEN MORE CHANGES
It was to later evolve from Linden Town Day, to Linden Town Week, whereby a plethora of events were packed into a seven-day period.
And while most of those events revolved around partying, the week also saw some focus on sports, arts and culture among other activities. Some of the signature ones were the ‘Linden Town Week Pageant’, the ‘Poker Street Lime’ and the ‘Main Big Lime’.
Fredericks is, however, contending that most of those events would fit comfortably within a three-day period, as many of them occur during the two weeks leading up to the big weekend. Then, on the Sunday, there is usually the grand presentation of prizes.
He is of the opinion that of late, there is nothing on the calendar to really showcase Linden.
“Yes! I am saddened by what it has become! I normally call it ‘Town Weak’, because it has weakened us financially,” Fredericks said.
“So many persons come from out of Linden to make an investment and take our monies away; even persons from the Diaspora have been doing that.
“I instead of Linden benefitting economically, it is the total reverse,” he added.
He is also saddened by the fact that as the founder of the event, he has no say these days or benefits, as the Linden Mayor and Town Council has completely taken over what is rightfully his intellectual property.
But in spite of all this, he is hoping that Linden Town Week will return to what it was initially intended to be, with Linden as a town being the main beneficiary.
“I am hoping that we can see some little turn-around to bring it back as a truly economic activity for Linden; to make this something that Linden can be proud of,” he said, adding:
“And it can even cause the industry to become bigger. That is the way it was meant to be, and I am hoping that sometime, we can see the wisdom in bringing back what use to be.”
The current franchise holder of Linden Town Week is Vybz Entertainment. It acquired the franchise back in 2014 at a cost of $1M for a period of three years.
LTW has now been extended to 10 days.