D’EDWARD Village a former cocoa plantation situated on the West Coast of Berbice, between Cotton Tree Village and Rosignol, 65 miles east of Georgetown, is thriving in the shadows of its previous glory, when persons, some travelling even from Georgetown would flock the stores during the festive season, to shop for curtains and other uncommon items.

With the opening of the Berbice River Bridge (BRB) which spans from east to west, persons are now finding it easier and prefer to travel to the city to conduct their shopping and other business, at leisure.

Nevertheless, the stores were stocked with fancy decorations, silk flowers, toys and curtains, as well as walnuts, apples and grapes. A business owner said that the items, however, attracted a lot of “window shoppers” with hardly any real shopping going on. He, however, has remained optimistic that, with the then announced payout to public servants, the shoppers will get down to real buying.

However, `Sweet Lips’ Disco and Snackette managed by Annie Thomas popularly called `Aunty Grace’, had created a name for itself in the food business prior to the bridge construction. Users of the ferry would stop to partake of the delicacies.

But despite the minor setback, as the proprietress calls it, she remains determined to keep the business afloat. The food served ranges from cook-up rice, `Shine’ rice which is only available on Fridays; fish, either curried, steamed, fried or stewed; metem; pepperpot; fried rice and an assortment of other rice; curried and stewed beef, barbeque and a variety of `wild meat’.

When the Guyana Chronicle stopped by unannounced recently, the display case was overflowing with food and pastries of all sorts, while there was a steady stream of customers.

According to Aunty Grace, this customer flow is the order on any given day and she remains satisfied that, even with the opening of the bridge, her customers don’t mind spending a few minutes to stop by to order their food.

And, with the Christmas season on, she ensures that there is the pepperpot, black cake ginger beer, sorrel and other local drinks that are bottled and ready for sale.
Meanwhile the adjoining disco is the place to be on Boxing Night and Old Year’s Night, as according to Grace’s sister, Victorine Clarke, everyone would “dress to their `99’ and head to the beautifully-decorated disco to have a good time”.