This afternoon, the riverain village of Coomacka, Upper Demerara, comes alive with a three-day extravaganza that is intended to attract tourists and boost the community’s economy.
The event, which was held for the first time last year, is intended to be an annual affair.
Dexter Harding, Chairman of the Coomacka Community Development Committee (CDC) said although, the community does not have guest houses or bed and breakfast facilities, the extravaganza is intended to showcase various talents within the community. A wide variety of wild meat dishes will also be available throughout the three days.
He said it is collaborative effort of the CDC and Live Wire with sponsorship from Bosai, the Linmine Secretariat and a number of Linden businesses, including, Bernard’s Variety Store, James and Sons, Peter Lakeram, Snooks and Mustapha.
The three-day exercise begins with an opening ceremony at the Coomacka playing field from 6.00 pm today with Regional Chairman Sharma Solomon delivering the feature address. This will be followed by an open air karaoke, fashion show and modelling that will showcase the talent in Coomacka and the three neighbouring villages of Nottinghamshire, Yaryaribo and Old England. The extravaganza continues tomorrow morning at 6 o’clock with a seven-mile cycle race from the Linden Hospital Complex to the Coomacka playing field. The bicycle race will be followed by a triathlon – swimming across the river from the west bank to Coomacka, then riding to the ground and running a lap around the field.
Following the triathlon, there will be small goal and seven a side soccer as well as male and female soft ball cricket along with novelty competitions such as hot cook up eating, buns eating and beer drinking. Teams from Coomacka, Old England, Yaryaribo, Siberia, Nottinghamshire and other villages from further up the Demerara River such as Ituni, and Malali have indicated interest in participating in the football competitions.
Tomorrow evening, there will be a pink and black party at the play field with music provided by Megasonics, one of the leading sound systems in Linden.
The finals of the various competitions will be held on Sunday at the playfield before the action moves to the Coomacka beach for a White Fete during which patrons can engage in water sports such as swimming and jet skiing. There will also be a cooking competition and a sound clash of vehicular music systems.
Harding said the river is very shallow where the beach is located. According to him, although the beach could be a humbug in times of high tide since yards and one-flat buildings are flooded, the CDC has decided to make advantageous use of the beach, which is unique on the Demerara River.
He said the beach has built up over time as a result of the drainage system utilized by Bosai, which has left that part of the river shallow and in times of heavy rainfall, there is flooding in the community unlike the days of Demba, Guymine and Linmine when there was no flooding because those companies dredged the river.
