The question arose at the first
meeting of the Costa Maya Committee last Thursday evening of whether to
hold a Costa Maya Festival this year. Although it is believed that San
Pedro benefits greatly from this annual event, a lack of enthusiasm has
been noticed from some local businesses when it comes to their aid. The
first few years of the festival were profitable and enabled future events
to take place and better attractions to be scheduled each time. The last
few years have not been so successful though, due to the amount of
sponsorship offered. There remains several outstanding bills from last
year although the loan has been paid for the previous year's festival.
Sorely lacking is corporate sponsorship. Social
Security, Belize Telecommunications Ltd. and Water and Sewerage Authority
have been solicited in past years and have declined, though all reap a
profit from the festival. Ironically, one of the outstanding financials
from last year is the phone bill, which will need to be paid to enable
this committee with a phone line. Belize Electricity Ltd., for the first
time last year, gave a washing machine for a door prize and a small
financial donation. Discussed was that some companies insist on having
the monopoly for their product each year as part of their sponsorship and
then place severe restrictions on pricing and donations as well. It was
therefore decided to open up the bidding to as many businesses as
possible and see what the outcome would be. A solid decision to hold the
festival will be based on the response from solicitation in the early
weeks of the committee's work. They are asking for as much support as
possible from the community in this regard, in either sponsorship,
donations or their aid in the solicitation of others.
If the festival is to take place, the dates will be
August 15th -
21st. To help raise
initial funds, a Grand Raffle will take place with the Grand Prize being
a choice of a lot with house, facilitated from the Belize Rural South
office, or $25,000 cash. It was suggested the cash prize will gain
additional international appeal of purchasers. The second place winner
will win $1000 while third and fourth place winners receive a round trip
ticket from Belize to Houston/Belize to Dallas. Fifth prize is $500.
Tickets will be sold for $10 from selected agents
only.
Further discussion focused on switching Belize to
Tuesday's opening night to alleviate the hardship of delegates coming out
for more than one evening. Also mentioned was the possibility of the band
Sentidos Opuestos from Mexico to perform.
In the meantime, the committee will be busy looking
for potential sponsors and will schedule a meeting in a few weeks for
further decisions. For more information on sponsoring the festival or to
aid the committee in any other way, please call 2180.
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