There have been large turnouts at the Children's Mash Competitions in the city and other aspects of the celebrations have drawn fair crowds so far.

All indications are that thousands of Guyanese revellers from all races would again be turning out for the major events on Mash Day.

Mash is one of those occasions in Guyana when Guyanese from all walks of life come together in a grand celebration of an important national anniversary.

Mash is indeed a true Guyanese festival and we salute every effort being made to ensure it remains this way.

Most Guyanese recognise the efforts by the Ministry of Culture to de-politicise Mash and to make it a truly national event.

It is gratifying to note that this has led to a number of administrative regions embarking on their own itinerary to mark the celebrations.

Preparations for the celebrations of Mash 2003 are under way in all 10 administrative regions in the country, and officials are now fine tuning arrangements for the grand finale.

In recent weeks, Region Three (West Demerara/Essequibo Islands), like other regions, has been transformed into a hive of Mash related activities led by the Region's Mashramani Committee under the theme `United Are We In Mash 2003'.

Several sub-committees have been formed which include calypso, masquerade, fund-raising, sports, designing and flag raising.

A Secretariat was also set up at the Regional Democratic Council (RDC) building to assist the public with information.

It is commendable that all the administrative regions have put in that extra effort to make Mash our pride as the Trinidadians have made Carnival and the Barbadians Crop Over theirs.

It is worth noting that activities for Mash 2003 in Region Three, for example, started since December 7, 2002 with calypso auditions for juniors and adults.

Football, dominoes, Inter-Neighbourhood Democratic Council (NDC) softball competitions are also on the card for this region and other regions are also well into their programmes.

On January 25, 2003 there was the Mash Jamboree at the Uitvlugt Community Centre, West Coast Demerara while on January 30, the children's costume competition for the region was also held there.

Mash, which is a national holiday, is being celebrated in Guyana for more than 30 years now and many are hoping that this year there would be the usual massive crowds celebrating a truly Guyanese festival.

Noteworthy is the fact that in order to keep the spirit of Mash alive, the Ministry of Culture is operating on a $16M budget, and the Government has allocated $10.8M for the Public Sector to participate in the activities.