IT may be seen in some quarters as a runaway success, but according to franchise holder, Vybz Entertainment, hosting the Linden Town Week is no walk in the park.
Reflecting on the many hurdles the group has had to overcome in the last two years to deliver on their promise of a bigger and better event this year, Company Director, Mr Lincoln Zephyr told the Guyana Chronicle:
“The first two years were kind of a little rough patch because of the many challenges.
“The first year we had the election period to compete with; the second year we had the Jubilee period to compete with, so it was kind of challenging to get corporate support and literal support from people, but we were still able to take on the challenge and move forward with it.
“But this year is a much better year for us.”
Giving a little background as to how it all started, Zephyr said:
“Vybz Entertainment is a group of young entrepreneurs and business personalities within the Linden community who came up with the idea that we should try and revive Linden Town Week somewhat. We pooled our resources and we ran the franchise for three years.”
The Vybz Entertainment team, he said, is chaired by popular singer, Mr. Winston Caesar, and has members ranging in occupation from promoters, to teachers, entrepreneurs, youths, to public relations personnel among other fields of endeavour.

THE TURNAROUND
But to get back to the challenges and how they managed to overcome them, Zephyr said they began the turnaround by reviewing the 2015 and 2016 Calendars of Event and adding quite a few novel ones, all in an effort to remove the ‘one-big-party something’ the event had come to be regarded as over the years.
“We tried to bring events for every age group, every gender… we have social events, sporting events, partying events, jazz, international night, all-black, which is highly anticipated, the Wismar Night,” the young businessman said.
“We also have a lot of sports events, we have DJ spin off competition, food festivals, games night, the health fair was good, this year is a packed calendar and has so much to offer,” he added.
They also did their best to decentralise some activities by having them hosted by several communities across Linden, among them Amelia’s Ward and other communities on the Wismar shore. On that score, he applauded the corporate sponsors for coming on board with them, which has helped tremendously in making the 10-day event the success it has already been touted to be.
They also owe a debt of gratitude to the government for lifting the ‘2am curfew’ on all events throughout the week of activities.
“One of the key things of this year’s Town Week is that the Government of Guyana has heard our cry and lifted that curfew; that is a very, very big part in the success of Linden Town Week,” Zephyr said.

INVOLVING THE KIDS
While many children may not be allowed to attend events at night, Vybz has considered them and has in store several events for their enjoyment of clean fun during the day. In addition to the educational programmes, Vybz on Thursday hosted a day of sports, which saw schools across Linden competing in several track-and-field events.
Following this was a school concert on the Linden/Georgetown Bus Park, where Linden’s local artistes were sacheduled to entertain the children free of cost.
Other events involving the kids were the Freestyle Dance Competition, the Skip to My Lou Competition, and the Debating, Essay and Spelling Bee Competitions.
Those billed for over the weekend are swim meets, Teen Zone and the Arts of the Lawn/ Literary Fair.

PROTECTING ITS INVESTMENT
Vybz entertainment has also sought to help resolve the conflict with other promoters and entertainers in Linden, which has over the past two years seen the franchise holder being labelled as ‘selfish’ for not allowing ‘the small man’ to also earn.
Lindeners had bemoaned the policy that no other event could run simultaneously with Vybz’s events, and this resulted in law enforcers shutting down sound systems and gatherings across Linden.
Zephyr explained that the move should not be deemed as selfish, but as a mission to protect the investment of Vybz and other major players.
“Vybz has to set the standard of how these activities should be run when they are running simultaneously with major events that Vybz has invested in, and what other investors may invest in,” he said.
“We have to try and protect the investments, because the reality is Linden and Guyana do not have an entertainment population as other parts of the world.
“In Guyana, you depend on one set of people to full your event; we would not promote these major street jams at every corner.”
Zephyr said that major beverage companies like Banks DIH and ANSA McAL will have their villages in Mackenzie, but other entrepreneurs will only be allowed to have a small sound player; something that will not attract a large crowd.
Over the weekend, Linden is expected to see an influx of some 3000 visitors, and the highly anticipated events such as the Colour Party, the Regional All Black Party and the International Concert are expected to attract close to 4000 patrons.
As such, Vybz will be tripling up on security so as to ensure a peaceful event, since the police will have zero tolerance for violence and disorderly behaviour, given that the curfew has been relaxed.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR VYBZ
Since 2017 is the final year for Vybz’s contractual agreement with the LMTC, the company has not definitively decided whether they will rebid for the contract.
If, however, they’re granted first preference, then more than likely, the offer will be considered.
Vybz is nevertheless proud of what is has been able to achieve in bringing Linden Town Week to what it should be: An event for all Lindeners.
But this does not mean the end of Vybz, as the company will continue to play an integral role in the entertainment industry in Linden.