Take a bow, limers
THERE must have been shortcomings and teething problems but initial accounts indicate that `The Main Big Lime' on Main Street, Georgetown, Saturday was a show stopper. It was such a success that people have already begun asking for more. The crowds were huge and mixed and the organisers and backers deserve credit for pulling it off without any reported major problem. They will learn from their mistakes but the sheer magnitude of the public response is a clear sign that events such as these can promote tourism - the big aim behind the Big Lime. We again salute the tenacity and fighting spirit of former Trade, Tourism and Industry Minister, Mr Michael Shree Chan who, despite recuperating from illness and recent surgery, found the time to be there at the launching Saturday. He conceptualised the event and was the prime mover behind many other similar projects. Take a bow, Mr Shree Chan, and you can be proud too of your successor, Mr Geoff da Silva and the team of backers. The Main Big Lime, at least, fulfilled the aim of being the precursor of a festive season planned to run through the Christmas holidays until the annual Republic (Mashramani) anniversary celebrations in February. It has set the pace for a coming together of a people to revel in what they can do together. It was a splendid and colourful affair with bands of entertainers from Suriname, Venezuela and Colombia linking with local groups to put on performances that brought sustained applause from the crowds. The Main Big Lime was also the ideal launching pad for what President Bharrat Jagdeo, at the opening Saturday, promised will be one of the biggest ever Mashramani celebrations next year. "I can assure the public that there will be full government support going beyond what (the) government has done in the past years so that this could be a reality", he said. The idea of a festive season running until February, according to him, is to redefine `Mash' in an effort to fuse Tourism Awareness Month, observed annually in November, with the traditional joyous time of Christmas and Mashramani "into one cultural symphony". Any major event aimed at a fusion of cultures and races deserves widespread support and we endorse President Jagdeo's conclusion that the overall response to the event is evidence enough that people are anxious to come together to ease the tensions that frequently plague them. "This, I have no doubt, will deepen our social unity which needs to be more manifest in our other national events", the President said, adding "the interactive nature of these events is what will forge our quest for common national objectives." Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green also had a point at the launching, hoping there was "a deeper intent and purpose" behind the exercise, in light of the social and other tensions in the society, and that the same energies expended on cleaning up Main Street for the event will also be accorded the entire city. The city does need some greater attention - like yesterday.
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