Jolie Pollard, Organizer
"We have great artwork from all over the country. We have 50 artists and a variety of musical performances. There is something there for everybody. If you think that the art won't really hold your attention for too long - we got incredible live music performances going on throughout the weekend."

Aline Habib, Organizer
"We got many of our local Placencia entertainers who will be participating. The music scene of Placencia right now is very vibrant. We are definitely trying to encourage our locals Belizeans to come down to Placencia, not just the south of Belize, but we are trying to reach out all the different districts to come out to Placencia."

"The road has been paved; it's really easy to get there. It's beautiful; it's a perfect weekend to get away with your family. Come buy your perfect valentine gift. We definitely have like more typical Placencia style of art; under water, the fish, the coral and those colorful types of paintings which are really popular."

"We also have a lot of artists that come with mainland paintings like jaguars, birds, orchids and all those things - trying to capture little snippets of all the art from all over Belize."

"We are trying to attract a lot more Belizeans to this event. A lot of people may have misconceptions about the art festival, so we are trying to attract our Belizeans and not just the international foreigners."

The event will also have live musical performances, night-time concerts and activities for children.

BDF Celebrates

The Belize Defense Force celebrated its 34th anniversary this year with last Friday's passing out parade of new recruits. And as tradition would have it, the following day ought to have been celebrated with the popular open day fair. But heavy rains made for wet field conditions, and the fair had to be postponed for this coming Saturday, February 11th. But as the saying goes, 'every dark cloud has its silver lining'. As a result of the postponement, the BDF has increased its gate prize winnings from 2 Thousand dollars to 3 Thousand Four hundred dollars, giving the public even more reasons to attend this Saturday. Two soldiers of merit told us more:..

Lieutenant Justine Swift, BDF
"The raffle tickets are out right now. Every soldier is selling raffle tickets. We have raffle tickets at several different establishments. It's a dollar to participate and that dollar qualifies you to win one of the 15 prizes which the first prize, as I mentioned, which is $3,400."

"We have a round trip to anywhere in the US among several other prizes."

Jim McFadzean
"The BDF open day has been a very popular day amongst the public. Any different, in terms of the attractions this year? Any thing has been added?"

Warrant Officer, CL II, Saebot Cayetano, BDF
"This year we have some rides, we have bumper cars and all that. We have the traditional mock-battle display and other displays that the recruits will be doing. We actually have a silent drill display, which will have soldiers doing drill without being commanded very much."

"We also have our swimming pool; we have an Olympic size swimming pool that we will be giving the public access to on that day. We have other competitions. We have family oriented competitions - mother and daughter and father and son competitions. We will have all kinds of races; we will have people pushing 4 ton trucks, and every one of these competitions have prizes attached to them."

Lieutenant Justine Swift, BDF
"On top of that, we also have the dance. It has been changed from the initial location - which has always been Price Barracks - to ITVET. It's kind of closer to Belize City, and since we are in the spirit of giving away a lot of prizes, and you know we are celebrating our 34th anniversary, going to the dance automatically qualifies you to win a residential lot in the Lord's Bank area."

"We have a quite lineup of artists; we have Chico Ramos; we have Reckless, and so we turn it into a concert."

Jim McFadzean
"Where do the proceeds from this open day and the dance end up?"

Lieutenant Justine Swift, BDF
"We have a welfare fund which takes care of soldiers in times of need whether it be medical or it be bereavement. So all this money we are raising for this open day goes into that welfare fund that help looks after our soldiers and their welfare."

As in previous years, the BDF will be providing free transportation to Price Barracks.