Each event has its own pull and its own fans, but the Expo crosses all demographics - because, after all, who doesn't want a deal? At this year's opening of the trade show, Chamber President Arturo "Tux" Vasquez talked about how the expo came about some 19 years ago:

Arturo "Tux" Vasquez - President, BCCI
"The Expo over the years evolve into its new name and identity: "Expo Belize Market Place." The largest consumer trade show in the country and a significant and welcoming addition to the September celebration calendar. This year marks our 19th anniversary after starting back in 1996. What a long way to have come, despite its yearly difficulty face by the chamber in putting this event together. September as you all know is a month of celebration with many different activities happening to commemorate our month of Independence and 10th celebrations. We have managed to organized ourselves with the September Celebration Committee schedule in order to properly fit into such a busy month. Focusing on this year's event we are happy to see that in addition to the usual medium and large business supporting the event, the participation of our micro business sector continues to grow. They are also seen the importance and benefit of being a part of this consumer trade show. A wide variety of businesses continue to participate in the Expo Belize Market Place, seeing a continuous growth in participation each and every year. We have this year some 214 booths compared to 197 from last year. 109 companies are represented this year, compared to 95 from last year. For the first time this year, the Merida Chamber of Commerce is participating. This will no doubt promote business between our two countries. We would like to publicly thank them for making the effort of participating and bringing a new dynamic to this year's event. Consumers can always expect the beat in deals and promotions as they visit the various businesses and booths throughout the grounds."

We spoke to Tux Vasquez on the phone today and he told us that while the final tally of visitors to the Expo is still being put together, preliminary estimates are that about 16,500 visitors went to the Expo this weekend. That would be down from last year when over 19,000 people attended the Expo and more in line with 2013 when only fifteen thousand visited.