September Celebrations Calendar Released

The September Celebrations are a little over a month away and today, the September Celebrations Commission released the calendar of events for the entire country. Director of the Institute of Creative Arts, Kim Vasquez, who doubles as the NICH representative on the National Celebrations Commission, says the calendar represents a variety of fun and educational activities across Belize’s six districts, and notably, the Gilharry Seven Band, which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary, will be honoured.

Kim Vasquez

Kim Vasquez, Member, National Celebrations Commission

“Going forward we – I don’t think we can really say September celebrations, we need to say national celebrations because we are beginning the celebrations with Emancipation Day. Emancipation Day this year is going to be observed on the 31st of July, and we have the first state ceremony. For emancipation day this year that will be at Government House on Monday, the 31st, and then we move over to the community festival, Eboe Town, Eboe Town Festival at the Yarborough Green. So that marks the start of the celebrations. What I really like about the playbill this year is that it is filled with a combination of different types of events. We have everything from the fun and the festivities. We also have a lot of educational events. There is the Creative Youth Summit. For example, there is a UB panel as well. We have awards and recognitions, Belize at 42 awards. We also have, of course, Pan Yard, some of the crowd favourites. We are continuing as well last year the Institute of Creative Arts and the N.C.C. launched what is called the Living Legend’s Concert Series, where we honoured Lord Rhaburn last year, and this year we are honoring Gilharry 7. It’s the 50th anniversary of the band, so that is something new that we can look forward to on the 8th of September. Every municipality has something here. And I must say that after today, you will find the electronic version on the National Celebrations page. You can pick up copies of the playbill here at the Bliss Center for the Performing Arts or over at the Niche Administration office.”