The Bamboo Spa takes four awards at Best of SVG show

­The Bamboo Spa and Resort, an establishment that pampers you in a first-class luxurious setting, topped the Best of SVG Awards on Sunday, winning in four categories under the Best Natural Health and Beauty Products category.

Owned and managed by Kathy and Ricky Wright, The Bamboo Spa and Resort was voted by the masses as offering the Best Manicures, Best Massages and Best Pedicures and as a result was voted as the Best Spa.

The business, located in Belair on the banks of the Warrawarrow River, also received the Courts St Vincent Limited Award (person or business with most votes in their nominated category).

“…first of all, I was a bit shocked,” Kathy said, after learning that her business had won in so many categories on Sunday.

She added, “I am elated, I am grateful to the people for choosing us; it is a humbling experience and also a frightening experience, because people would expect even more from us now”.

Kathy said that she did not know about the Best of SVG Awards until a friend informed her about it, via WhatsApp, a few days before she received the invitation from the organizers to attend the awards ceremony at the St Vincent Community College in Glen.

“I did not know, or else I would have voted for myself 40 times,” said the elated business woman.

She added that she is looking forward to the second edition of the event, scheduled for 2018.

“I think it was really well done, a good initiative,” said Kathy, who has more than 25 years as a spa therapist and whose business was opened eight years ago and has one part-time and six full-time employees.

Making up the 115 awards given out on Sunday were some eight Courts St Vincent Limited Awards. Apart from the Bamboo Spa and Resort, also receiving these Courts awards were the Girls’ High School (GHS), under the Places and Tours Category, Guardsman SVG under the Home and Finance Category, Cash Money (Best Auto Parts Dealer) under the Vehicle Category, Rodney Small (Best Steel Pan Player) under the Leisure and Entertainment Category, Laferne Fraser (Best TV personality) under the Media Category, Frisko Ice Cream under the Food and Dining Category and Kimon Baptiste (Best Fashion Designer) under the People Category.

Commenting on her school’s win, headmistress of the GHS Andrea Bowman said that for about 15 years now, the GHS has received the award for top performing school at the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) Examinations and that award is based on a numerical score. She says that what this means is that when the school gets 98.3 per cent, there is no doubt that it is the top performing school above all other schools and there is nobody that can dispute it, because of the numerical superiority.

“However, with this people’s choice award, this is a qualitative award, where people are seeing the school beyond the academic, beyond things that you can just measure in very specific terms, so it gives me the impression that people have a good feeling about the school and that the school is viewed in a positive manner, beyond just the academics and that makes me feel very pleased and satisfied and very grateful for the girls, that the school is regarded in that manner,” said Bowman.

Elton Bailey of Cash Money Investment (Best Auto Parts Dealer) said that it is gratifying that the customers appreciate the business and saw it fit to nominate them.

“We look forward to serving the people in the future and doing the best we can to meet customers’ needs,” said Bailey, who has been in the auto parts business for close to 15 years.

Other categories and winners that created quite a buzz were Best Passenger Van Service, won by “Abdullah,” who was given stiff competition by “Toppa” and “Busta”; Best Beauty Salon, won by Stylin Chic by Auldine Browne; Best Barber, won by Webster Dickson – Southie (Top Shotta); Best Make-Up Artist, also won by Auldine Browne; Best Tattooist, won by Rohan Billingy; Best Calypso Singer, won by Alston Becket Cyrus; Best Disc Jockey, won by Chris “Two Cool Chris” Jones; Best Entertainer, won by Rondy ‘Luta’ McIntosh; Best Soca Artiste, won by Gamal ‘Skinny Fabulous’ Doyle; Best Night Club, Huffles Ranch; Best Comedian, Shevrill ‘Candy Man’ McMillan; Best Rum Shop, won by Dougan’s Bar; Best Social Media Personality, won by Asberth Williams; Best Outdoor Dining, won by Chill Spot Bar & Grill; and Best Pepper Sauce, won by Erica’s Country Style.

Sunday’s event saw entertainment by Rodney Small, Gamal “Skinny Fabulous” Doyle, Hanse John and Shaunelle McKenzie.

Sponsors of the event included the SVG Community College, Floyd Patterson, Flow, National Lotteries Authority, Boom FM, Xtreme FM, Star FM, NBC Radio, OSV, Rebel Media, Searchlight, Vitamalt, First Caribbean International Bank (FCIB) and Guardsman (St Vincent) Ltd.

The Best of SVG Awards was created to recognize outstanding businesses and persons in St Vincent and the Grenadines.