Residents of Linden joined by hundreds from overseas and around Guyana participated in all the events to mark the 42nd anniversary of the Republic of Guyana that were organized by the regional administration and several private promoters.
It all started on Thursday night with the flag-raising ceremony which was held at the Mackenzie Sports Club Ground. Though sparsely attended the occasion included a packed programme of cultural items, a march past by the disciplined services led by the Linmine Constabuary Corps of Drums, and addresses by Regional Chairman of Region 10, Kuice Sharma Solomon and Minister within the Ministry of Local Govern-ment Norman Whittaker.
The younger folk too were catered for, and schoolchildren from all levels in the education system, including the Linden Technical Institute had their moment of celebration through the streets of Central Mackenzie before bringing the curtain down in the Mackenzie Sports Club (MSC).
Barbadian soca singer whose music has been creating waves across the Carib-bean, ‘LiL Rick,‘ created a stir at the MSC ground on Saturday night before a mammonth crowd of Lindeners and others. It was socamania time at the fete put on by the L and Social Club of Linden, with additional sponsorship from Guyana’s beverage giant Banks DIH Limited.
A combination of local artists including the combination of Jomo and Adrian, Big Red, 2nd place winner of the Soca compitition and GTT song winner Brandon Harding, among others can take equal credit for giving the crowd their money’s worth. “If anybody lef hay and she deh din have a good time tell dem I she deh lie, deh lie deh lie,“ said one woman as she was leaving the MSC ground after 4 am Sunday morning as the show ended.
“Dis party aint done in till tonight” said another who was among several who said they were heading to the Five Corner at Mackenzie where the float parade of the Linden Mash road tramp was scheduled to move off.
At the break of day it seemed that Linden would not have had mammoth support for the the road tramp as the skies were dark and shortly after that sent waves of heavy rainfall washing the streets.
However, Lindeners were not deterred as the floats moved off in spite of the weather. An hour later the rain had subsided and the sun was up, encouraging thousands to join the float as it entered Wismar. Revellers from all corners of Wismar joined the Mackenzie contingent at Silvertown and gyrated and danced to the sounds of Supreme Sound System, Mingles Band and Move-ments Sounds along the length of the Winifred Gaskin Highway.
The curtains came down at the Bay Rock Community Centre ground where thousands partied and others had a family picnic. A number of private activities mainly of the bar-b-que variety, as well as park parties continued throughout Sunday night.
A police presence was evident at all the events which perhaps was partly responsible for the absence of serious misconduct.
