Hours of rainfall in the lead up to the 47th Republic Day anniversary celebrations did little to dampen the spirits of thousands of Guyanese who turned out yesterday to view the Mashramani costume and float parade.
With the adoption of the new route that was used during the parade held to coincide with last May’s jubilee independence anniversary celebration, the organisers of this year’s parade managed to eliminate the chaos of the crowded, jam-packed streets that had come to characterise the event, creating instead an atmosphere of openness and order for revelers.
However, everything did not go according to plan. As has become customary, the parade did not start on time, and several bands were spotted still setting up at their points of origin after the scheduled 11am start.
As a result, there were gaps, sometimes lasting as long as 15 minutes, between the floats. One spectator, Gordon Sargeant, stated that while he found the parade to be “alright,” there was “too much space,” which he said resulted in it being boring. Despite the shortcomings, many along the route said that they were enjoying the festivities.
At the start of the route, at Avenue of the Republic and Church Street, there was only a small number of spectators. However, as the revelers proceeded south along Avenue of the Republic, the number of spectators they met increased. There were many persons congregating in front of businesses, presumably to shelter in the case it started raining again.
Along Brickdam, the crowd grew denser. Tents were set up on either side of the road and families stood in wait of the approaching bands.
At the mouth of Brickdam, leading into D’Urban Park, the line of spectators thickened, but barricades placed strategically to outline the path the bands would travel kept them at bay.
They were not allowed to occupy the full expanse of the Square of the Revolution and police officers stood by to ensure it stayed that way. Persons took up occupancy behind the stands, although none of those appeared full to capacity, unlike last year.
There were 21 bands in this year’s parade. The float designs came across as less original than those featured last year, with many appearing to be carbon copies of one another.
This year’s Mashramani theme was “Celebration with dignity, liberty and greater unity,” but a lot of bands adopted themes that focused on the government’s push to create a green economy. Several floats alluded to Guyana as an oil state or focused on renewable sources of energy, featuring replicas of solar panels and wind turbines.
The Ministry of Education’s band featured the largest contingent, with around 300 revelers.
Minister of Public Telecommunications, Catherine Hughes and Minister of Business, Dominic Gaskin were spotted among the revelers in their respective ministries’ bands. The two expressed their satisfaction with the turnout despite the weather. (Dreylan Johnson)
