THE highly anticipated and well-loved Bartica Regatta will kick off tomorrow with a launching ceremony and the sashing of the delegates in the Miss Bartica Regatta pageant.

Rumoured to be the oldest pageant in Guyana, it continues to attract thousands of people from the mining community and surrounding locations. The pageant was originally launched sometime in the 1980s.

This year, eight beautiful young ladies will be vying for the crown which will be awarded on Easter Monday when the pageant is held.

Tomorrow, the sashing ceremony will take place along with the judging of two segments, namely the Intelligence segment and the Costume Extravaganza.

The delegates will subsequently visit President, Dr. Irfaan Ali, and pay other courtesy calls on April 5 and 6 in Georgetown.

Pageant Coordinator Angelica Fredericks, who won the crown in 2003, is busy at the moment putting things together, especially as the pageant has not been held for the past three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pageant will be held at the Basketball Tarmac, Community Centre Ground, and Fredericks told Buzz this week that there is a lot of excitement in the air.

Fredericks served in an assistant capacity for 10 years, before she was appointed coordinator. She has been performing that role for three years and it includes organising all of the segments, music, concerts and other events.

Even though quite a lot of work is involved in planning the pageant, it’s easy for her owing to the amount of experience she has gained over the years.

As for the girls who will be vying for the crown, Fredericks shared that most of them were born and raised in Bartica. This year, there will be three delegates who are originally from Venezuela, but who have been living in Bartica for some time now.

“We have never included girls who are speaking different languages. We will have an interpreter, like the international pageants. That would bring a different crowd to the show,” Fredericks said.

Showtime tomorrow is 20:00 hours and tickets for adults cost $2,000, while those for children are going for $1,000.