Tope Yes, Carnaval and Zapote Officially No
Johnny Araya, the mayor of San José announced yesterday that the "Tope Nacional" - the national horse parade - will go on as usual on December 26, beginning at 1:00pm and that the "Carnaval" is definitely a no, as well as the cancellation of the Zapote annual fair.

The news is not new, however, the mayor made it official yesterday.

The reason for the cancellation of the "carnaval" is the cost. The Comisión de Festejos Populares was disbanded once the Zapote fair was cancelled and the municipality says it cannot bear the cost of the carnaval that has taken place on December 27.

In addition, municipal employees will not get the additional day off December 29.

Araya said that the cost of the "tope" to the municipality will be around ¢6 million colones (uss$11.650 dollars), which he said will hopefully be recovered by a select number of companies as sponsors of the event.

The mayor added that the move of the municipality to run the event is a first step in the reform of the law "Ley de Organización de los Festejos Populares", that will permit municipalities to run events and not left up to a regional council.

More than 2.000 cowboys are expected in this years only event in the streets of downtown San José, that will run from the Parque la Sabana on the west side, along Paseo Colón, turn right at the Hospital San Juan de Dios and move along Avenida Segunda, ending at the Paseo de los Estudiantes on the east side of downtown.

Municipal police and municipal workers will be on hand to provide security and clean up after the event.