By Clifford Stanley

REGION Five (Mahaica/Berbice) is upping the ante on its Mash 2019 celebrations with the appointment of a talented designer for its costumes this year.

A special effort is being made to improve the quality of the costumes and message, as a strong, 100-member contingent is being prepared to hit the road for the February 23, Mash Day Parade, Regional Information Officer, Ms. Sandie Ross disclosed earlier this week.

She said that national designer Pat Coates has been assigned to this “very important task”, and that the region is going full-steam to really stand out this year.

The theme for Mash 2019 is: “Celebrate Mash 49 with Victory in Mind.”

The anticipated highly-colourful parade of revellers with accompanying music mounted on trucks, will assemble and move off from the Burma Road in Sub–Region One: Mahaica/Abary at 11:30 hours on Mash Day,  and proceed to the popular Park Square resort at Mahaicony, just east of the Mahaicony River bridge.

At the Park Square, there will be a wash down session, lasting late into the evening, for revellers and other participants, Ross said.

The region will, however, kick-start its Mash celebratory activities from today, February 1, with a domino competition involving staff of all the agencies and organisations in the region, to be held in the compound of the RDC head office, at Fort Wellington.
A chutney song competition is also slated to be held on February 10.

The annual flag-raising exercise, at which the public is invited, will be held at Fort Wellington starting at 8:00pm on February 22, with a cultural presentation with participation from school children, teachers, education officials, regional administration officials and members of the Joint Services, Ross said.
Meanwhile, the regional officials have put in place transportation to facilitate persons from as far as Ithaca and Rosignol, on the West Bank of Berbice, wishing to be a part of the Mash Day festivities. According to Ross, a 30-seater bus will begin picking up people from Ithaca at 09:30hrs, while a 60-seater will roll off around the same time from Rosignol.

She disclosed that in addition to the public sector entities, a number of private sector organisations within the Region have pledged their support towards the success of the Mash Day parade and other activities.