By Vishani Ragobeer
FOR 41 years, Trevor Smith has been selling kites – in all sizes, shapes and colours – at Easter time. He spends much of the year making these kites, and a few days before the Easter weekend, he lines the pavement of Camp Street, Georgetown with his creations.
His record year was 2019; he sold about 1,200 kites – a feat by any imagination. And recognising that his kites were in high demand, he spent the rest of 2019 and the first few months of 2020 increasing his production in time for the 2020 Easter season. In fact, Smith increased his production by about 500 kites.
In 2020, Easter Sunday was observed on April 12. Instead of the National Park, seawalls and open spaces being filled with gleeful, enthusiastic children and young adults with their kites, the spaces were bare. This was so because only a month before, Guyana had recorded its first case of COVID-19. At the same time, the spread of the coronavirus across the world prompted authorities to declare it a pandemic.
Though Smith made about 1,700 kites in anticipation of the high demand for his creations, he barely sold any of his kites.
“Every kite maker faced that issue last year,” Smith posited during a recent interview with the Sunday Chronicle. He emphasised, “COVID was the boss last year.”
Despite the pandemic, he attempted to sell his creations but the veteran kite-maker lamented that there was a pervasive fear of the virus. He contended that parents were scared to send their children downstairs, much less let them go outside to fly a kite.
With no market for his 1,700 kites, Smith had to take them all home. And instead of spending the rest of his 2020 making kites for the 2021 Easter season, he relaxed, knowing that he already had enough kites to sell the following year.
A stone’s throw away from Smith, was Kevin Peters. Compared to Smith, Peters was a new guy in the business; he had only been plying this trade for about four years. When he spoke to this newspaper on Thursday last, he said he made 200 kites last year and was forced to take most of them home. This year, however, he made another 100 to supplement the kites from last year.
Both Peters and Smith were optimistic that their kites would be sold and find their way into the skies this weekend.
“I already got kites that would cover this year,” Smith said, pointing to the kites lining the pavement along Camp Street. He even had another set of kites, closer to Camp and Robb streets. Following the absence of Easter festivities last year and well, a year in the pandemic, the kite-maker related that he has “great expectations” this time around.
“The energy is in the air, the enthusiasm, you’re feeling it… People are just tired of being locked up at home. People just want a lil outing, a lil vacation here and there even if they gotta exercise the social distancing and wear a lil mask and so,” he underscored.
Before Good Friday, Smith had already sold quite a few kites and he was sure that before the Easter weekend was over, his kites would be sold out. And, as he prepared to enjoy his Easter and then start making more kites for next year’s season, he urged all Guyanese to “exercise positive vibes”.
