- An area in North Ruimveldt, Georgetown, built up and provided with suitable infrastructure for the express purpose of initially providing accommodation for visiting guests and artists during Carifesta ’72. About 250 new houses made of greenheart timber were constructed there.
Festival City was as self-contained as the organizers could make it. It had its own bank, post office, police station, fire service, dedicated medical staff, laundry, restaurants, shops and a pool of vehicles for transportation.
The rooms of the houses were furnished with tables, chairs and other pieces of furniture, made by Guyana’s Amerindian craftspeople from nibbee.
Festival City was a microcosm of Caribbean arts and entertainment – housing, as it did, a wide variety of performers from many parts of the Caribbean. Numerous languages and dialects could be heard there.
Late in the evening, but especially after midnight, as the formal scheduled events of Carifesta ended, Festival City grew busier and noisier. Musicians and other performers put on impromptu performances, and ate and drank and entertained one another for as long as they were able. Tents and other temporary structures were provided to accommodate such events. Some performers rehearsed in Festival City for the next day’s performance.
After Carifesta ’72, Festival City houses became available to Guyanese who wished to buy them.
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