Key stakeholders in Cricket Carnival 2022 (DPI photo)

Guyana Carnival set to kickstart in Independence week

Setting pace for Cricket Carnival 2022

What started out as a bottom house idea between some friends, is now the premier calendar event in the Caribbean for 2022, and Guyanese locally and in the diaspora, and non-Guyanese are raving with excitement. 

Cricket Carnival, set to be hosted in September, is a merger of the Caribbean Premier League  and Guyana Carnival – a product birthing out of a collaboration between Hits and Jams Entertainment and the Government of Guyana. 

While the official calendar is fixed for September, patrons will get a taste in May, with five days of six exciting events.

On Wednesday May 18, 2022, at a media and corporate launch of the two major bands (Genesis and Utopia), Executive Director of Hits & Jams entertainment, Kerwin Bollers disclosed that the Genesis x Utopia band launches set for next week from May 25-29 are intended to set the pace of Cricket Carnival 2022. 

“Guyana is very excited for these activities and we want to start the excitement off with a bang, going all the way into September.  We are happy to be back hosting live events again, not running from the bus, or having a limited number of people at an event. We will be able to come out in full fledged in May… and these activities will bring significant financial benefits to Guyana,” Bollers said. 

These events include Touchdown Cooler Beach Party featuring Patrice Roberts at the Marriott Beach on May 25th; Stinging Nettles featuring Kes and the Band at the Marriott Parking Lot on May 26th; Baderation Dancehall Mega Concert featuring Shaneil Muir, Skeng, Yung Bredda and others at the National Park on May 27th; Toga Party at Outside Lounge on May 28th; Stink and Dutty Jouvert on May 28th at the National Park; and Soca and Wine on May 29th at Marriott Parking Lot. 

cricket carnival 2022

CEO of Hits & Jams Entertainment, Rawle Ferguson reminisced on the origin of the vision. Having started as a wild idea between friends, and have now grown to the magnitude of one of Guyana’s main tourism products. 

“Today is a very happy day for. This actually started in a bottom house between Kerwin and a few friends of ours, and we came up with the concept of Carnival. And our perspective at that time was bringing happiness and bringing people together, bringing cultures together. And it was until we met His Excellency Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, we figured out the economic benefits of Carnival and we married Carnival with cricket and wanted to bottle that and share it with all of Guyana and the rest of the world,” Ferguson shared.

Also sharing remarks at the launch, Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson said the collaboration was necessary to accentuate the trajectory that Guyana is on. 

“What I want everyone to understand is that Guyana is a unique country. As we evolve, as we transition in this period, and the country begins to transform, the pride and the uniqueness of Guyanese people, it must show itself to the world in a very elaborate way. This collaboration will form a new direction that the Government of Guyana has established as part of an overall vision of where we go, of creating this premier destination in the region for world class events. It was an important decision for us to have made, to secure CPL finals and semi-finals and to pair it with Guyana Carnival to create this brand called Cricket Carnival,” Ramson remarked. 

Director of Guyana Tourism Authority, Kamrul Baksh echoed similar sentiments, agreeing that this is a significant boost to Guyana’s economy through the tourism sector. 

“The concept and construct of Cricket Carnival will unify people and industries across the CARICOM region and in other countries. The concept is not only for tourism exclusively, it’s much broader, and this is something I feel the government has been leading exceptionally well. 

We at the Ministry of Tourism, Industry and Commerce and the Guyana Tourism Authority have a mandate to ensure that when travellers come here, the travel economy and every aspect of it is well taken care of. And one major component of that, is the activities that travellers can have and experience here while in Guyana. Next week is one such activity that they can engage in. They are high quality, high octane, well organised events. That’s what we want destination Guyana to be known for. Events are major draw cards to pull people to this destination,” Baksh said. 

Representatives from major sponsors such as DDL, Banks DIH, Churchs’, Ansa McCal, GTT and Fireside Grill were also present and gave remarks at the launch, all of whom expressed sentiments of joy to be supporting the Cricket Carnival 2022. 

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