Patrons flocked the Bartica beach to enjoy the jet skiing and boat rides as part of the annual Bartica Regatta festivities on Saturday, April 7
Bartica Regatta 2012 was an explosion of great music and exciting boat racing despite its hallmark pageant was noticeably absent.
The Bartica Regatta is a signature event of the tourism calendar in the country, President Donald Ramotar said. He added it is the government’s duty to support the event, and in so doing, presented Regional Chairman Gordon Bradford with a cheque to the tune of Gy$ 500,000.
“Bartica is really growing from strength to strength and is realising the dream of our government,” said Ramotar. The president pledged to continue to work towards making the community a town, a message that was well received by the patrons at the boat racing event held last Saturday.
“I would say just by driving around the area today that we are not far away when Bartica will become another town in Guyana, but an important one since it is the gateway to the interior,” Ramotar said.
The president also spent a few minutes meeting, greeting and taking pictures with residents. Accompanying the president was acting Tourism Minister Irfaan Ali, who echoed the president’s message of supporting the event.
“The government of Guyana stands committed with you,” Ali said. He then made a commitment to develop the event as part of a home-based tourism product, pointing out that the region can become the centre of the tourism industry.
Meanwhile, Bartica Regatta Committee Chairman Gordon Bradford said he was satisfied with event given the limited time the committee had to prepare for it.
“I’m satisfied taking into consideration the late start that we had because of the regional and national elections, and then coming in with a new body to take things up from scratch.” Bradford, who is also chairman of Region Seven, said that pageant was not held because the committee did not want to compromise its integrity.
“We don’t want to risk that because the Miss Bartica Regatta Pageant, which is the oldest pageant in this country, is also the flagship of this region, and so we just couldn’t take the chance of doing something that might have been substandard,” said Bradford.
On Saturday, the Summer Splash Concert was off to a very late start because of persistent rains. But patrons endured taking shelter under the tents of bars. Some enthusiastic fans braved the rain because nothing was going to stop them from enjoying the show. Splashing in the puddles gathered on the Community Centre Ground where the event was hosted, the fans endured for close to six hours before a local act Maya Ellite opened the show.
The Slingerz Sound System and its DJ Garwin and others kept the crowd entertained between acts. The Summer Splash Concert was put together by DC Promotions in collaboration with Wildfire Entertainment.
Popular local soca artist Adrian Dutchin electrified the crowd when he jumped off the stage, leaped over the VIP barricade and partied with the regular crowd, who more than welcomed his outrageous act. Getting the crowd involved, Dutchin called patron on stage to see how Barticians whined. After hyping the crowd, it was time for the headline act, Tarrus Riley. And he did not disappoint. It may have been 2: 00h in the morning, but that did not stop the crowd from drawing close to watch the reggae singer perform.
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