Zapote Fair Games
Without A Bidder As
Third Auction Comes Up
Dry
What happens when the
few people showing up at
the auction decide not
to bid? A festival
without games. That is
exactly what happened
yesterday when the
Comisión de Festejos
Populares de San José
held its third and last
auction for the Zapote
Fair games and like the
previous two auctions,
no one bid.
The Comisión asked for
an opening bid of ¢33
million colones
(us$66.000) for the
lease of the 4.600
square metres of land
that will hold the
carousels and games
during the annual fair
that begins on Christmas
day.,
This is the second blow
to the Zapote Fair in
less that a week, when
the Sala IV
(Constitutional Court)
ordered the mayor of San
José to stop work on the
"redondel de toros" -
bull ring - as it did
not have the required
permits from the
Secretaría Técnica
Nacional Ambiental.
So, without the bull
ring and the games, the
future of the Zapote
Fair hangs in the air,
leaving only the "chimanos"
- the food stands with
certainty to operate.
That is the situation as
it stands at least until
tomorrow, when the
Comisión will decide on
their next course of
action.
Although the future of
the fair in jeopardy, no
one believes they will
be cancelled like last
year, when the
Ministerio de Salud
would not issue the fair
the required health
permits, citing a number
of conditions that would
negatively affect
visitors, including the
makeshift bull ring.
The contractor of the
permanent bull ring says
he has the permits and
will be sending copies
to the Secretaría and
the construction of the
ring will be completed
on time. As to the
carousels and games, the
Comisión may be forced
to split up the
concession into smaller
ones, allows several
operators to bid and
operate the games>
Jorge Villalobos,
president of the
Comisión de Fiestas,
said that now that the
three auctions stipulate
by law were held and no
one bid on them, the
Comisión is free to do
as it pleases with the
land.
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