Latest update February 6th, 2025 7:27 AM
Christmas begins at Courts
E.B.D man wins $1m in Stash of cash
(By Mondale Smith)
Though there were some technical difficulties, a stage that seemed too small for the dancers and an overzealous Santa Claus, Courts Guyana Inc. ushered into the festive season in top notch style Friday evening.
Thousands of bright-eyed children and their parents along with others flocked to the Main Street location and thoroughly enjoyed the annual concert and tree-lighting ceremony.
The harmoniously blended voices of the Y3K, an all boys quartet, brought new life to the national anthem. Then the Bishops High School all girls choir came with some real Christmas vibes.
the Bishops girls choir in action
Employing their adapted version of Mariah Carey’s Christmas song ‘Jesus,’ the variations were well received. But the spirited “Santa Claus is coming to town” done with much swaying and energetic hand movements was the hit of the night. Reigning Star Guyana winner, Lisa Punch as the lead singer.
Then suspense filled the air as darkness descended on Main Street. A police siren was heard followed by the sounds of CBR’s revving at high volume. All heads were cast westward when Emcee, Michella Abrahams, announced that Courts Bond (Howard Lorimar) was on his way to give one lucky Stash for Cash customer a shot at winning about $2m cash.
Fog filled the air; there were explosive sound effects and when it cleared five bikers drew closer and stopped mere meters away from the stage. Aback of them was the rare sighting on the local shores of a Hummer vehicle from which Bond emerged.
The audience exploded with cheers as five local beauties dressed in body hugging black leather suits stood up aback of the bikers and stepped off the bikes carrying briefcases. Maintaining serious faces the ‘eye-candies’, including two beauty queens, made their way to the stage followed by Bond and Colin Lovell of East Bank Demerara. It was time for the Stash of Cash game show in Deal or no Deal style.
Lights flashed amidst sound effects as Bond’s split personality allowed him to be serious like an assassin and a jovial Mr. Congeniality. He allowed Colin to pick one of the five brief cases then invited Ministers Manniram Prashad and Manzoor Nadir and Prime Minister Samuel Hinds to take their pick before Colin’s case was opened.
Their cases contained $2m, $1.5M and $2m respectively, causing suspense to be at its peek. But the celebratory shouts that followed was in agreement that Colin had won $1m cash.
He received his ceremonial cheque from Courts Country Manager, Lester Alves, who announced that all shoppers to Courts who spend $5000 or more can be in with a chance to be selected for a chance at winning millions.
But that was just the beginning. The concert continued with several men marching along side a coffin-shaped box which they escorted to the stage.
Once there, the fog became thick yet again and when it cleared the black drape fell from the coffin and Guyana’s number 1 Michael Jackson imitator (Lyrics Visa) emerged with antics et al.
He grabbed his hat ever so often as he did his crotch and moon-walked across the carpeted stage and the crowd screamed with wild abandon. The entertainer was paying tribute to the late King of Pop.
Then after a failed attempt, the lights to the Trees outside of the Main Street store were switched on.
The night’s proceedings also featured distribution of sweets to children. While there was no sleigh or reindeer, Chris Kringle, the man of the moment arrived atop a Courts yellow bus with Mrs Claus ringing a bell in the company of Sponge Bob, Dora and Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
The children at that point could not be kept at bay, neither by the barricades nor the police ranks present.
As they danced and pranced around in the barricaded area, Santa latched on to Mrs Claus and gyrated but from her facial expressions it was obvious that she was not pleased with his public affection.
She however managed to force a smile and the show went on for several minutes before the event ended on an all time high, proving that Christmas is in the air at Courts.
Most memorable and crowd stirring was the performance from X-Factor which is considered probably Guyana’s best passa passa dancers.
The dancers blended Celine Dion’s ‘So this is Christmas’ with a medley of high energy hits.
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