Some 31 costume bands were up to yesterday registered with the Mashramani Secretariat to be in the grand float parade and several last-minute submissions of registration forms were expected, officials said.

The City Council is also working feverishly to ensure the environment is ready for the day and was yesterday busy earmarking slots along Irving Street, which are to be rented to vendors for fixed sums. Vendors were also erecting stalls yesterday along the route to be taken by the float parade in efforts to get prime spots before the Saturday morning rush.

But the Ministry of Culture says there is to be no vending on Irving Street between Church and Lamaha streets. The Public Relations Department of the City Council was unable to clarify the apparent communication flaw.

Aiming to match this year's Mash theme, `Colourful and True in 2002', designers are busy getting their costumes ready for the big day. They have been asked to build floats less than 15 feet high.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Ms. Gail Teixeira told a news conference yesterday she is pleased with the developments and reported that several administrative regions are increasing their participation.

Some for the first time are hosting their own decorated/illuminated buildings competitions, she said.

She said there have also been requests for float parades in the regions and the Mash Committee will start collecting letters of interest from them with proposals on why their regions should host certain activities.

There will be a special programme on GTV 11 and on radio tonight and persons wanting to send Mash greetings are urged to tune in.

The celebrations tomorrow will get under way with the traditional flag raising ceremony at Parliament Buildings in Georgetown at 07:30 hrs. It will be a 35-minute ceremonial activity where the flag of Guyana will be hoisted.

The float parade will commence at 10:00 hrs and the minister said that up to yesterday, those registered included 16 full costume bands, eight semi-costume bands, four with tee-shirt revellers (who participate but do not compete), two floats on trucks - Habitat for Humanity and Computer World - and an animal-drawn float.

An interesting participation will that of a funeral parlour, but what it has to offer is left to be seen, she said.

"We should have an exciting and creative show of Guyanese creativity on February 23", she stated adding, "...it is going to be good".

She noted that there are several small businesses, non-governmental organisations, ministries and a number of companies that will participate.

The route will be east along Church Street, north into Irving Street, west into Thomas Road where the floats will enter the southern gates to the National Park. Floats will circle the tarmac once and head out. They can go into Albert Street or as advised, right into Thomas Road to exit at Camp Street.

This is also the first year in which 56 new songs have come out at this time though some sections of society have dissenting opinions about Guyanese music.

Teixeira is, however, optimistic about the future of the local music industry and yesterday noted that the number of songs produced for this year's Mash shows that this period has helped to enlighten the creativeness of local singers/musicians. Hopefully this will not be a once a year thing, she said.

According to the minister, bands will get extra points for playing local songs in the parade.

In an effort to achieve an incident-free Mash, there are a number of rules/guidelines which revellers and vendors are asked to adhere to.

The minister said that over the years, there have been no incidents of violence or crime on the float parade and called for the crime level to remain at zero.

Pedestrians are also urged to use the `pedestrian bridge' that will be provided for their entry into the National Park and not to try entering with the floats so as to get in free.

The entrance fee to the park is $200 and $100 for adults and children, respectively.

There will be no vending stalls on Irving Street between Church and Lamaha streets to allow for space on the road since it is often difficult for the floats to pass given the crowded street in the latter part of the afternoon, officials said.

The police will be blocking several city streets from about 06:00 hrs tomorrow and the public is asked to note that vehicles will not be allowed to park in these areas before that time. If any vehicles are there and the owners cannot be found, these can be towed away, Mash Coordinator, Mr. Lennox Canterbury advised yesterday.

The entire North and Vlissengen roads will be blocked as well as sections of Woolford Avenue and Albert streets, he said.

Bands will be numbered to facilitate judging and will not necessarily come out in that order.

Canterbury said the two main gates to the National Park will only be for floats and a bridge will be erected between the two for pedestrians.

A pedestrian bridge to the park will also be erected at Carifesta Avenue and the gate at the western end will be for vehicles only. The number of persons in the vehicle will have to be paid for and that will be the only entrance to the park for vehicles, he said.

The Red Cross will also be erecting first aid booths along the route and will be located near judging booths.

The Mash celebrations will continue on February 24 at Corentyne where the parade will take off at 11:00 hrs from Number 51 Village for Number 53 Village.

On March 3, New Amsterdam and Linden will have their final Mash wrap-ups and parades.

New Amsterdam will start its session at 12:00 hrs from Stanleytown to Fort Canje Ground, (a new way of operation), while Linden will start at 10:00 hrs from Christianburg Community Centre to the Mackenzie Sports Club ground.

On March 8, the ministry will present prizes at the Umana Yana in Georgetown.

The religious holiday, Eid-Ul-Azha will also be observed tomorrow and the minister cautioned that the rights of Muslims be respected during the Mash revellry.

She said arrangements were made for Muslims to use the mosque on Church Street but their ceremony is expected to be over by the time the float parade starts.

They, however, have other activities that will parallel Mash and should be respected, she said.