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They held a launching at the house of culture this morning and Monica Bodden found out what's being planned:

Monica Bodden Reporting:

The theme, logo and key events of this year's September Celebrations were launched this morning by the Celebrations Commission. The year marks the 30th anniversary of Belize's Independence and the 213th anniversary of the Battle of St George's Caye.

Diane Haylock- Co Chair, National Celebrations Comm.
"The anniversary of every major event or occasion in the life of an individual or a country is just cause for observation and celebration. And we the people of Belize, have, every September, justly celebrated two significant events in the life of our nation: Saint George's Caye Day on the 10th, and Independence Day on the 21th. And we will once more do so, again this year; however it has also been tradition to pay special attention to those anniversaries every 5 years. Indeed, we see these 5-year periods as milestone years. This year marks the 213th anniversary of the Battle of Saint George's Caye, and more importantly, the 30th anniversary of of Belize's Independence as a Nation State. What does, or should this milestone-year mean for Belize and her people. It is often said that someone 30th birthday, signifies that moment in time when that individual transitions into her prime years. It is the time in life when one would stop, and reflect on who he/she is, where he/she has come from, and more importantly where he or she is going."

And there is a list of events on this year's September calendar.

Greg Vernon - Director, ICA
"The calendar event for September, of course, starts this month of June with the Archaeological Symposium, and it goes into December, where we're hoping that we would be able to add, as we go along, the private sector, the businesses, the promoters, and the producers of shows, that we'll be able to add to the calendar. And so we're working, as much as possible, with the budget that has been provided for us. And so we're looking forward for a good year this celebration. What we're looking forward to this September, of course, is the official ceremonies in September. We start off with the old capital, Saint George's Caye. We move into the second capital, Belize City, for the flag raising, where it was originally done, and then we go to Belmopan for the official ceremonies of the 21th, which Belmopan is now our current capital. We also have, coming along the way, where we'll be looking at the design week, for example, where we'll be looking at the national where competition, which we're very much focused in developed a national where Belizean Identity, that we'll be able to portray what Belize should be. We are also looking, in August, of course every August we do our national song competition, and so with this song competition, we break it down into two areas: the patriotic song and we also have the carnival song competition. Inside, there will have seniors and juniors for categories. We are partnering with the Atlantic International Bank, who have partnered with us, to do this initiative."

This year's celebration theme is "honoring our histories, celebrating our cultures, uniting in peace".

Seleni Matus-Director of Tourism
"The Commission, itself, has spent, I'd say, many hours looking at the entries that we had for basically the logo and the theme for this year. And after pouring for hours over the people's suggestions, recommendation, we are very pleased to announce this morning, the theme for the 2011 September Celebrations. And the theme is "honoring our histories, celebrating our cultures, uniting in peace. This theme really captures our Belizean Identity, our sense of peace, and also the growth of our nation. So we invite all Belizeans, here in Belize and throughout the world, to join us in celebrating this momentous milestone."

Greg Vernon
"This year logo, we had submissions from the country. Of course, every year we make an announcement saying that we'd like logos, and of course, the theme. We look that the designers, and we say which best represents. And out of the whole lot, this one was chosen by the committee. The logo - the theme as explained by Ms. Haylock is one that the committee had to piece together to represent what we would like to say for our 30th anniversary."