Municipalities receive funding for September Celebrations

Black Immigrant Daily News

by Charles Gladden

BELIZE CITY, Thurs. Aug. 18, 2022 The National Celebrations Commission (NCC) has distributed funds to the country’s various municipalities to help finance their

September Celebrations activities. On Wednesday, mayors from the different municipalities met at the House of Culture in Belize City with National Celebrations Commission chair, Hon. Francis Fonseca, and were handed their annual allowances for the September

Celebrations activities. Hon. Fonseca spoke with the local media about some of the activities that will be taking place in the month of September, leading up to Independence Day on September 21.

“So I think we have some exciting events planned. Of course, we have the usual traditional events on the September Celebrations calendar, the September 10th, and September 21st Independence Day activities. But this year, of course, [the] Carnival is back…That is scheduled, I believe, around September 3rd, here in Belize City… We also, of course, have events like the Tribute to Belizean Patriots, [and] the National Awards. But very importantly, some of the new, innovative activities that we launched last year were largely virtual. This year we are hoping to have a bigger audience for those activities,” said Minister Fonseca.

He added, “As well, we’re having our national prizes. We started last year with these specific awards for creative excellence and cultural excellence. For example, the Andy Palacio Prize for Music, the Lela Vernon Prize for

Culture, and the Rosita Baltazar Prize for Dance, to name a few; there are seven of them. We’re also having the concert series expanded. We started that last year in four municipalities, [so] we’re trying to do that in four different municipalities this year, promoting our Belizean musicians and artists. As well as the mural project, which was a big hit last year, the mural project across the country, so this year again, we’re continuing that.”

A new event this year for the September Celebrations is a concert to honor Gerald “Lord” Rhaburn, one of Belize’s pioneers in the production and performance of calypso, soca, reggae, and brukdown music in the 1970s and 1980s.

“One of the big events that we’re having here in Belize City is Lord Rhaburn Legends Concert. We want to pay tribute to Lord Rhaburn and honor him, so we’re working along with the Belize City Council as well as the BTB. They were very excited [about] being a part of that initiative. We not only going to have a concert, [but] we’re also going to name a plaza by the Memorial Park in Belize City in honor of the great Gerald ‘Lord’ Rhaburn,” Fonseca said.

Annually Belize City is the center of the September Celebrations activities. Mayor of Belize City, Bernard Wagner noted that Belizeans will be looking forward to the festivities after not being able to enjoy them in-person for two years.

“This time of the year, people look forward [to] having interaction and face-to-face interaction. The last two years have been this type of activities that were happening in silos, everybody operating virtual, and so it was important that we bounce back this year and have that face-to-face interaction. I am certain the people of the city, people of the entire country will have a robust time,” he said.

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