But if you didn't make it there or catch it live, our Daniel Ortiz was there and he put together this report:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
The 2013 Expo Belize Market Place drew an impressive 19,000 visitors over the weekend, one thousand more than last year, and a huge success for the Belize Chamber of Commerce and Industry. But while that is the bottom line, a major consideration for all the participating companies was the fact that 2 of the major events of the September Celebrations schedule clashed on Saturday: carnival and expo.

No one knew what effect that would have on the event, but it did change the approach some businesses took:

Karan Sabnani, Co-owner, Cellular World
"This year we were all a bit shaky about it due to the carnival, but we've gotten a great response. What we did was make life convenient for people. We did our Expo deals along the carnival route and we also reduce the prices on our products. Normally at Expo we have a set price range that we work with but this year we drop it a bit to attract people to skip carnival and actually come into expo."

Ian Courtenay - PR Officer, Smart!
"This year because of the clash between carnival and stuff the company took a decision to reduce the size of our booth. But we've been and here and we have had our showrooms open countrywide to offer customers the ease of taking advantage of the deals that we have."

"Yesterday afternoon of course was pretty slow to say the least but today we have a good traffic going through the booth."

Sharolyn Pandy - Representative, Medina's House of Jewelry
"So far the experience is much better today than yesterday because of the carnival, but as you can see people are starting to come out for this afternoon. I can't complain so far."

Reporter
"Has today been better than yesterday?"

Denver Wade - Representative, Grace Kennedy Belize Ltd.
"Yes, far way busier."

Dr. Dionne Miranda - Customer Services Manager, BTL
"We did see the crowd cut down around 3pm yesterday afternoon, but it wasn't because they hadn't come in early enough to make sure that they got their purchases. What we saw in the morning - we were completely packed-up and it was none stop back to back customers but they actually came in. I am thinking that it would have spread out throughout the day if the carnival hadn't happen. I don't think we experience a loss at all. We just had different times that we had it more hectic from time to time."

John Reyes - Brand Manager, Angelus Press Ltd.
"Yesterday I didn't work but from the feedback that I got we still got a lot of customers in the morning time. In the afternoon the carnival took away the customers but in the morning the feedback was good from the customers."

Mohit Budhrani - Owner, VIP Wireless
"Although we had the carnival yesterday we did a very good over here. We saw people came in early, they bought and they left for the carnival."

Even though the Carnival drew the crowd away on Saturday afternoon, collectively, the companies got a chance to do heavy marketing among those who attended:

Dr. Dionne Miranda - Customer Services Manager, BTL
"It's been really good. In fact we were just talking about it. We think that Belize is going to be a Blackberry Belize after this because everybody been getting their Blackberry out here yesterday and today, so everybody's going to be BBM tomorrow. After this we can't text anymore."

"Usually the booth is very packed up, but there were a lot of people just checking on things. This year we don't have the quantity but we have the quality of customers in the sense that everybody who walk-in walk-out with a purchase. It seems that they are very prepared. They know what they want to buy and they came in here knowing that they want to take it away. So that's what we've been seeing."

John Reyes - Brand Manager, Angelus Press Ltd.
"I think this year is a bit more successful than last year. We have a wider variety this year than last year. People are loving the prices. That's a good thing about it."

Nathaniel Alvarado - Chairman, Belize Small Growers Tilapia Association
"Everybody been coming in and they like what they see."

Reporter
"What are you guys doing out here?"

Nathaniel Alvarado
"It's Tilapia, see them here. That's what we are advertising."

Denver Wade - Representative, Grace Kennedy Belize Ltd.
"I fed about almost 1000 people from this morning."

Sharolyn Pandy - Representative, Medina's House of Jewelry
"Right now we have going on our layaway plan and you also get the discount to go with it and also we customize jewelries - no problem when it comes to Medina's House of Jewelry."

Mohit Budhrani - Owner, VIP Wireless
"We offer the best prices. Every year business grows and we offer the best prices, the best products - we didn't see any kind of effect from the carnival."

Daniel Ortiz
"Tell us about what you guys are offering to your customers to try to attract them to your booth?"

Mohit Budhrani - Owner, VIP Wireless
"We have tablets for $175 and we have phones starting from $39. We have Android phones from $199 and we have a lot products and the best prices."

Karan Sabnani, Co-owner, Cellular World
"We have phones starting from $39 up. We have touch screen phones from $85 up. Android from $199 up. We have tablets which is the new thing; everybody wants a tablet - for $169. We are just making things affordable for the people of Belize to give them a reason to enjoy the heat and the atmosphere."

Indira Craig - Country Manager, United Airlines
"It's been a while since we've been out here on the ground and it's been very interesting. We've had so many people stopping by. I think one of the biggest things for us is the fact that most people still identify with us as Continental Airlines, so it was a really good opportunity to come out here today and to just educate people a little more about the fact that yes - I know they are familiar with the Continental brand but Continental and United has merge and so we are now United and we function under the umbrella of United."

"It's been a lot of interaction with people."

Meanwhile other agencies used the opportunity to raise awareness about their projects:

Sgt. Elroy Carcamo - OC Community Policing, Belize District
"The Belize Police Department has team up with Special Olympics this year to assist our youths that will be participating in the Special Olympics that will be held in Los Angeles California. We are trying to raise funds to get the finance to assist them to pay their travel."

Regina Campbell - Project Coordinator, YWCA
"Today for the Expo we have two of our programs that are presented here today. We have a "rural women's project," where we worked with women from Toledo, Stann Creek, Cayo and Belize District to help them market their products and develop skills to become entrepreneurs and then we also have our "helping early leavers program" for young girls that need an alternative form of education. They have here the bread and bun, cookies, brownies and our famous Johnny cake mix."

Michele Irving - Representative, Women's Department
"The booth we have here is to really look at women economic empowerment under the Women's Department Program. The acronym is SWEET (Supporting Women Economic Empowerment through Training)."

At the Expo's opening ceremony, Jex Trophies Company presented the Belize National Football Team with trophies for their participation in the 2013 Gold Cup.