A number of people were on Saturday last treated to an afternoon of fine entertainment and high-end cuisine at the Picnic on the Lawns, Celebrate Life event presented by the Pergola Smokehouse and Lounge on the lawns of the Bishop of Guyana’s residence.
This is the second year Pergola has done such an event; last year it was hosted at the Promenade Gardens.
“I don’t celebrate Valentine,” chuckled Pergola owner and award winning chef Kester Robinson. However, considering that people are looking to celebrate their love for each other, Kester could see no better time for such an event. As such the occasion sought to celebrate life and was not particularly for couples. Several families turned up with their children and friends attended together.
“Last year I wanted to do something out of the box,” Kester said. “Every year persons go to a restaurant and the next year, they go to another restaurant. You basically eat food, look around, talk a little bit and that is it. At the Pergola, we’re always about an experience. It should be more than just going to another restaurant. When I thought about it last year, it was just to be different and surprisingly people responded very well… It was a night picnic.”
There was the required social distancing owing to the pandemic and people also wore facemasks.
“I took it further. Rather than having just some blankets and the pallets for tables, why not make it into an entire production. We went all out into transforming the space when it comes to decor. We had Abel Stokes singing and playing the guitar. There was also steel pan playing. I feel steel pan is just so Caribbean and it adds a different dimension to an event. Before the day of the event, I saw a sno-cone man and I was like hmmm… most of these persons are professionals, when last they stopped to get a sno-cone, probably since primary school days. I wanted to create that nostalgia and add that to the entire experience of the greenery, the food, the throw pillows, the amazing architecture of the Bishop’s residence in the background,” he said.
In fact, many people were so much intrigued with the Bishop’s residence, they wanted a tour of the building. In regard to the sno-cone man, Kester found him the day before the event and contracted him.
When it came to the meals, the main course was prepared at the restaurant, while the appetizers were prepared on the lawns.
Special attention was paid to people with children to avoid unnecessary intermingling, but Kester shared that parents were so responsible in taking care of that, there was no trouble.
Many of those who were there loved the atmosphere of it all while according to Kester, those who couldn’t make it were jealous.
Persons are already enquiring when there will be another event of its kind.
Currently, the Pergola is working on its calendar of events for this year. Wine, Cheese and Dessert will occur in March.
