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A Festival For The Flowers Bank Negroes
posted (May 31, 2012)
In 2009, a Flowers Bank festival was held to honor the memory of the Flowers Bank Negroes- 14 men who - as the legend goes - case the deciding votes in 1797, to stay and fight for the colony under the threat of Spaniards and thus set the course for Belizean history. This year the 4th annual Flowers Bank Festival will not only honor these 14 men but it will also depict many cultural and historical practices that have been observed in Belize through the launching of a permanent exhibit in Flowers Bank. Today we caught up with Shari Williams, communications officer for NICH, who told us more about the Festival and the exhibit to be launched.

Shari Williams
"The entire reason behind the festival is to honor the 14 men from Flowers Bank. History tells us that there were 14 men from Belize River Valley who made the deciding factor in whether we were going to run and hide or whether we were going to stay and fight for the battle of St. George's Caye during the battle of St George's Caye."

"The entire festival is honor these 14 men, but in addition to that we wanted to foster an appreciation for the people of the Belize River Valley area as well as to learn about how the river has contributed and carved Belize as a nation. The highlight this year is the opening of a new exhibit. It's a permanent exhibit that is going to be along the river valley but they are going to officially launched it this weekend."

"The exhibit is going to be place right along the river valley, so you can enjoy the river while learning about it. The exhibit is called "The river and its people" and it include exhibit about the Mayas, the chicle factory and the Mahogany factory as well as old means of transportation along the river like the pit pan dorey and other stuff like that."

"We are encouraging people to come out."

Clinton Rhaburn, Chairman - Flowers Bank
"We are trying to make it bigger and brighter. The official opening will start at 10. NICH is assisting us to put up a display, so we have a display that we will be opening. Going towards the rest of the day we will be having cricket and after cricket we will have softball and after that we will be having lime and spoon, sack race and stuff like these - traditional stuff."

"Sunday, we will be having dorey and canoe race and football game. So we have a full weekend for everyone to come. If you can't make it on Saturday then probably you can make it on Sunday."

The event will begin around 10 Saturday morning and continue all weekend.

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