IT’S been a week since the third annual Curl Fete was held, and just as expected, the event turned out to be its largest iteration to date. The event’s hair show, which was the main attraction, saw thousands of people gathered in the Promenade Gardens to give support to their favourite salons who competed in seven categories: Jester, My Kingdom Come, Nefertiti, Little Miss Afro Puff, Albino, Shuri and Rapunzel. Coming out on top and winning a prize of $100,000, however, was the Linden-based Sister to Sister’s Beauty Salon owned by Setra Oselmo.

Following the successful event, Curlfete Co-founders Tamika Henry and Denisha Victor hosted an appreciation and prize giving ceremony on October 10, which saw Oselmo receiving her prize money and the nine other salon owners receiving hampers. Prizes were also given for the youngest vendor and best booth.

“Curl Fete is made great by the contributions of several groups and individuals – the attendees, the planning committee, the sponsors, the vendors and especially the salons. The event is truly a team effort and we wanted a simple but meaningful way to say ‘thank you’,” Henry told the Pepperpot Magazine. “At the appreciation ceremony, we awarded each participating salon with hampers of hair products, towels and accessories that would be useful at their salon, as well as presented the $100,000 cash prize to the winning stylist, Setra Oselmo. We also awarded the prize for Best Booth to Simonia John of Product Plug for her creativity in booth design and her exceptionally warm customer service, while Kenita Roberts of Kenthings took home the prize for Youngest Vendor, as our nod to celebrating entrepreneurship among youths. Kenita is just 19 years old and creates her own copper jewellery and hair products. Both young women received a full refund of their booth registration fees.”

She stated that the event, which took the form of a cocktail, was also hosted for the awardees and team members to take stock of what they have achieved this year and to review areas for improvement. “ It is very important to us that we continue to grow and develop Curl Fete as a dynamic movement, learning from best practices and feedback from the public,” she said.

With 80 companies exhibiting and/or vending at the expo, along with support from 14 sponsors, Henry said that indeed 2018 was the biggest Curl Fete to date. “ In keeping with our mandates of education and community service we also invited more NGOs and charitable organisations on board this year, either to have a booth at the expo or to facilitate workshops, such as the Guyana Cancer Society, ACDA, Sexual Reproductive Health Adventures with Dr Pat, St Ann’s Orphanage and Food for the Poor,” she said. “Men, women and children supported Curl Fete by the thousands and while the final numbers are still rolling in, we estimate that this year we almost doubled the 3,000 figure that we recorded last year. We are so humbled that corporate Guyana and families have embraced Curl Fete in the way that they have.”

Meanwhile, it wasn’t just the crowd that was left in awe by the hair show, Henry explained that she thought the creativity displayed was amazing. The event also saw performances by talented Guyanese artists, including Samuel Medas, Omiah Hall, beatboxing twins Jonathan and Joash, poet and reigning Miss Emancipation Gabrielle Cummings and acoustic band, the Soul Sisters; it also featured fashion displays by local designers as well as existing boutiques. The day-time event had its usual informative and interactive worksh, including Zumba with Vanilla, makeup and hair demonstrations and many other activities.