Mash floats gear up for massive parade tomorrow

Feb 22, 2014 News

…most pieces depict folklore

Guyana is just hours away from celebrating the annual and usually massive Mashramani Parade. The result is that works at the various ‘Mash Camps’ have intensified.

The Education Ministry’s ‘White Horse’ was a very skilful piece

The few hours left are expected to be hectic for the revelers and designers participating in tomorrow’s parade and competition.
It is crunch time and many are working hard to win the top prizes. The revelers have to perfect their choreographies while the designers have to ensure that their floats are the most spectacular to be displayed on the streets of Georgetown.
Yesterday, Minister of Culture Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony visited several of the major camps in the city and at the end of a tour with media operatives, he announced that he was extremely pleased with what he saw.
The Minister told reporters yesterday that he was particularly impressed with the fact that most of the floats he saw reflected this year’s Mashramani theme of – “Cultural Folklore, Celebrating 44.”
The majority of the costumes focused on the mythical characters like the Ole Higue, Jumbie, the Baccoo, Wata Mama (mermaid), and the Kanaima among others.
When asked, the Culture Minister said that he finds the floats entering into this year’s competition to be very interesting.
Dr. Anthony added that the designs of many of the floats and costumes are a lot more complex this year, and that he looks forward to seeing them come alive on the streets of Georgetown tomorrow.
Both the Minister and members of the media were impressed with what was displayed by those in the Ministry of Education’s ‘Mash Camp’.
The Ministry’s entry into the medium category of the competition tells the story of the ‘White Horse’ and life on the Dutch plantation. One of the striking contraptions was the main aspect of this float- the ‘White Horse’. The design for this part of the float was done in such a way that the person operating it would be able to make the horse elevate its hind legs.
Minister Anthony said that some 30 Mashramani Bands have already been registered, and that this figure is about the same as last year.
He refuted rumours that Banks DIH Limited, one of the country’s major participants, will not be taking part in this year’s Republic Anniversary celebrations.
“Banks will be participating in a different way this year,” he said.
Kaieteur News understands, too, that along with Banks DIH Limited, CARIB, another major supporter of Mashramani observances, is participating in a “different” way this year.
Meanwhile, there has been a substantial increase in the number of trucks that have registered to take to the streets tomorrow.
So far, there are more than 10 of them, and Dr. Anthony noted that preparations are being made for those. Asked whether the party trucks will take away from what his Ministry is trying to achieve by creating awareness of the folklores, Dr. Anthony said that people who want to party on the road in comfort are being facilitated.
However, at the same time, the Minister noted that creativity is something that is being thoroughly advocated.
“We know that often times people would be dehydrated on the road and faint and so on, so we have all the relevant agencies on standby. We are also urging people to walk with their first aid kits,” Dr. Anthony said.