Latest update February 2nd, 2026 12:59 AM
Record Guyanese attendance at 50th Independence fair in Barbados
Guyanese in Barbados established what is believed to be a record for attendance at the
spacious Plantation Theatre when they filled the venue to overflowing Sunday. The occasion was a fair and concert observing the 50th Anniversary of Independence.
The numbers befitted their status as the second single largest group in this island after Bajans.
Organisers of the annual ‘Taste of Guyana’ food fair merged that event with celebrations of the country’s 50th Independence Anniversary for a big bang at the Christ Church venue that attracted an estimated almost half of the 6,277 persons identified as Guyanese on the island during the 2010 census.
“After a while we had to turn persons back at the gate,” explained, Dr. Carol Williams, Chairperson, Guyana Association of Barbados Inc. (GABI), Jubilee celebration committee.
“When the crowd got to a certain size, security personnel reminded us of the Fire Department’s safety regulations about the number of people allowed in the venue at one time, so we had to count the persons leaving early, and let in a similar set, 20 by 20 at a time. People who bought tickets before the event, but arrived late, were demanding to be let in.”
This jubilee fair and concert followed a massive turnout for a church service at the Cathedral of St Michael’s and All Saints on May 22 and Williams said the next event for the Guyanese community resident here is a 50th Anniversary Gala Awards Ceremony, for which a date is to be announced.
She said GABI hopes to attract Guyana’s President David Granger, or Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo to that awards event.
The air at Sunday’s get-together at Plantation overpowered the senses with spicy foods representing Guyana’s mixed race composition with creole dishes that have roots stretching across continents of Africa and Asia, and a mixture of territories in between.
Added to those dishes of the ‘people who came’, were the traditional foods of the indigenous Amerindian population.
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