Palmares Festival A Go!
While it was dicey until the
last hours, the Fiestas de
Palmares received all the
necessary approvals and today
the annual festival kicks off
with the Tope, the horse parade.
Palmares, a town about 45
minutes west of San José, is
expecting a record attendance
this year with the cancellation
of the Zapore Fair in December.
Billboards, full page newspaper
and radio spot advertising have
been telling people to visit
Palmares for more than a week,
that promise, in addition to the
Tope, a Carnaval, concerts that
include national and
international artists, games,
bulls and "megabares" - huge
bars that promise lots of action
and taps flowing.
Following a lot of "zozobra"
(anxiety) because a number of
permit were still not granted,
yesterday afternoon, only hours
before the megabares and the
games were to open, the
Asociación Cívica Palmareña said
it had all the permits that
included environmental and
health permits for the party to
begin.
Gerardo Araya, president of
municipal council of Palmares,
and four municipal council
members gave the approval vote
once the Asociación presented
the municipal council all the
required documentation that
allowed the festival to go on.
The only opposition to the
festival was council member Ana
Estelia Rojas, who questioned
the 16 temporary liquor
licenses.
Araya said last night that the
liquor license permits are on
the condition that the
Asociación will restrict the bar
owners and not allow the "modelos"
- scantily clad women - outside
their bars and on to the public
areas of the festival grounds.
Also, the Asociación will
control the sound level and not
allow minors into the bars.
The relief from the anxiety came
when local mayor, Mario Rojas,
did not attend the municipal
council meeting. Rojas has been
opposed to the festival and had
threatened to veto the permits
given by the municipal council
members. According to articel
158 of the Código municipal
(municipal code), the mayor has
five days in which to veto any
municipal council decision. If
Rojas takes that action, the
Palmares festival will come to
an end.
Notwithstanding the political
rumblings at the municipal
offices, hundreds of workers
yesterday began to erect the "chinamos"
- the food stands - polishing up
the rides and unloaded an
estimated million or more cans
or beer from the beer trucks.
In the megabares, technicians
were tuning up their sound
equipment while the bar managers
were giving last minute
instructions to the modelos who
are the focus of attention to
get more customers in their
bars.
The cost of entering the
megabares will be between ¢2.000
and ¢4.000 colones. One bar, for
example, will be raffling off a
vehicle to all participants,
while others will have similar
promotions to get their share of
the festival goers.
The festival kicks off
officially at 12 noon today with
the Tope dedicated to the
ministra de Obras Públicas y
Transportes, Karla González,
with an expected 3.200 horsemen
that will then convert into a
"ranchero" festival and include
a concert by Mexican singer,
Pedro Fernández.
The festival will continue until
January 22, unless mayor Rojas
casts his veto and more
information on the daily
activities are available at:
www.festivalpalmares.com
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