On the basis of the available evidence, the organizers of last weekend’s Linden River Front Festival would almost certainly have fallen short of persuading residents to buy into the vision of the once thriving mining town being able to offer a tourism option. And if there are plans to repeat the event next year it is going to have to take place against the backdrop of significantly improved marketing, far greater community involvement and – perhaps above all else – a healthier economic environment in Linden as a whole.
The truth is that Linden is waiting to exhale from what has been a protracted and grueling period of economic hardship that has affected every facet of life in the community. If accurate statistics are hard to come by, it is not difficult to believe the view expressed by residents that the unemployment rate exceeds 50 per cent. While there is evidence of a modest measure of commercial activity in Linden, it is difficult to make a case for what one might call a Linden economy. Last weekend, it did not appear that Lindeners were ready for what, otherwise, may well have been a successful River Front Festival.
For Stabroek Business, however, the visit to Linden to cover the event was a far from wasted one. Linden warrants a far greater measure of national attention if only because it is inconceivable that a community that has given so much to the country and its economy would be left to wither further. What is more is that amongst Lindeners there is an unmistakable feeling that the new political administration owes them, big time.
What appears to keep Linden going is an abiding faith in a political administration for which its residents voted in
overwhelming numbers earlier this year. There appears to be a widespread view that there is need for an as yet ill-defined stimulus package that revolves around repairing the community’s broken down infrastructure, providing access to funding for generating private sector business activity, creating thousands of jobs and providing training for out-of-school youths. Crime too is an issue that requires attention.
Chairman of the Festival Committee Samuel Wright seeks to make a case for the success of the event, but it is a less than persuasive one. At least two of the events on the programme, including the opening ceremony, simply did not take place. What was billed as a jazz performance that took place at the Egbert Benjamin Centre last Friday attracted an audience of no more than 30 people.
Wright said the focus of the Festival was to “celebrate the [Demerara] river.” On both the Mackenzie and Wismar banks there is potential for the creation of tourist attractions. On Sunday evening a Regatta comprising approximately 10 boats provided a glimpse of that potential. It is, however, potential and little more and the scant attendance told a story of a community that is distracted by its problems.
Sections of the business community, too, appeared indifferent to the event. Neville White, Proprietor of Hymarra Park, an open space on the Mackenzie side of the river—opposite the famous Lichas Hall—currently being developed for recreation, told Stabroek Business that the limitations of the event had much to do with the fact that community involvement was lacking. Interestingly, a children’s event billed for Hymarra Park attracted decidedly modest support. Other business owners claimed a similar lack of prior knowledge of the event.
Whatever the organizational shortcomings of the Festival, the bottom line appeared to be that the people of Linden have a lot to distract them.
Michael Allicock, General Manager of Legends Restaurant and Night Club on Republic Avenue, says that, unquestionably, business is slow. Legends, which opened its doors in December, represents an investment by a relative, Jacqueline Jameer, who resides in Canada. Allicock says that “tough times” in Linden have spawned innovative thinking in the business community. He boosts his clientele by importing DJ’s from Georgetown and securing attendance prizes from companies like Banks DIH Ltd.
When Stabroek Business spoke with Beresford Harry, Proprietor of B Harry Hardware Store & Lumber Yard on Water Lily Road in Wismar on Monday, he was on the verge of placing some of his 30-odd staff on a three-day work week. It is, he says, the only option to sending them home.
Harry’s recent approach to a commercial bank to secure a $100 million loan to expand his enterprise into Amelia’s Ward and to erect a bond ended in disappointment. The bank, he says, takes the view that Linden is simply not generating sufficient business at this time to guarantee a reliable repayment regime. Harry is optimistic about the recovery of the Linden economy but concedes that the hurt is showing.
Close to the river front, on the Mackenzie side, Keeran Williams manages The Ice Club, a busy and seemingly well-supported bar. Patrons are loyal but constrained by their financial limitations and like Allicock, Williams has grown used to undertaking various marketing gimmicks to bring patrons in.
Across the river in Wismar, Wendy Davis, a remigrant from St Lucia owns and operates The Hub, a restaurant that offers breakfast and lunch; one of the best, according to patrons. By day Davis employs four persons; at night she runs a bar alone, except for the DJ who brings the patrons in. Interestingly, Davis is the only business person with whom Stabroek Business spoke, who had few complaints about the business environment. She says that one of her culinary drawing cards is a particularly popular dhall which she retained from the previous proprietors of what used to be Poker’s Restaurant. “Down the road,” her business plans include the establishment of a petrol station, she says.
Linden’s smaller business enterprises are feeling an even tighter squeeze. Of the 215 stalls in the Linden Municipal Market only around 30 are trading. The proprietors of the remaining stalls have either closed down, or else, have relocated to the Mackenzie Market, where, it seems, trading is marginally brisker; though on Saturday evening a grocer cum fruit vendor named Ms Forsythe told Stabroek Business that her sales for the entire day had amounted to $600. Forsythe is one of the occupants of the 52 stalls on the wharf adjacent to the Mackenzie Market. The vendors, she says, must pay $200 per day to trade from the stalls though the leaking roof and the ceaseless complaints to the community authorities change nothing.
These days, there is a preponderance of vendors in Linden. Many, perhaps most of the vendors, trade in clothing. The risks, they say, are lower than those that obtain in trading in perishable foodstuff on a highly volatile market. There is also evidence of a surfeit of taxis. Some ply their trade around Linden. Others favour the longer haul fares into the city. Everywhere, there is a sense of urgency about keeping heads above water.
