September Committee has several events for 10th…
There are many events on the celebrations calendar. Several items are scheduled for tonight. In addition to the fire engine parade, the ACC pageant at the Royal Orchid hotel is also scheduled to begin at seven. Later on, you can put on your dancing shoes for the Ninth Nite Soca Bash Concert with Alison Hinds, Reckless, and Chico Ramos at the City Center at ten. And if you can still manage to get up after a night of partying, the Official Battle of St. George’s Caye Day will be held at eight-fifteen a.m. on the tenth. NICH President Diane Haylock told us more about tomorrow’s events including the Citizen’s Parade.
Diane Haylock, President, NICH
“Tomorrow begins bright and early, so they are people who are hiding out and they probably shouldn’t go straight from where they are hanging out tonight to Memorial Park. But Memorial Park begins at eight-fifteen with the arrival of the entourage of queens and that will be followed by the arrival of all the various officials. And then following the arrival of the officials, we have the beginning of the program which includes the usual sorts of things—the welcome by the mayor, the address by the chairperson of the September celebrations committee who is the Honorable Manuel Heredia Junior. And the cultural presentation, the crowning of the 2009 Queen of the Bay and that will be followed immediately by the parade through the principal streets of Belize City.”
Jose Sanchez
“This is all in regards to the battle of Saint George’s Caye. What is the significance of the battle to remind those who don’t know?”
Diane Haylock
“The battle, the significance of the battle is that if you think about prior to 1798, there were these ongoing conflicts between the British and the Spanish over this territory that we now know as Belize. And in a way, the fact that the all four bearers were able to repel the Spanish in 1978, in a way, signifies the defining moment when Spain left this area alone and therefore it was able to emerge to become the nation we call Belize. So, in a way, one can look at it as the beginning of the making of modern Belize—that is the I see it.”
