The primary public space often used for large events in the heart of San Pedro Town, affectionately known as Saca Chispas, will be closed during August for renovations. The announcement by the San Pedro Town Council raised eyebrows as this is the venue where the popular international Costa Maya Festival takes place on the island every August. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival has been canceled for the last two years, making this the third year without the event on the island.

Mayor Nuñez confirmed that there would be no Costa Maya Festival this year, but they are looking to host it in 2023. Currently, the San Pedro Town Council oversees the festival but was expecting the previous organizers to reach out to them regarding the popular event. According to Mayor Nuñez, no one reached out to them to plan the festival. The Mayor also indicated that his administration had the option to host the festival or do something else. “It was up to the council to decide if we were going to have a Costa Maya. We decided that Dia de San Pedro is supposed to be celebrated more than anything else because that is the day of San Pedro,” said Nuñez. He said the festival should be held next year with sufficient time to plan. The Dia de San Pedro on June 25th is expected to be bigger than ever, featuring famous Mexican artist Pedro Fernandez.

Some speculate that the new two-day Belize International Music and Food Festival recently announced by the Belize Tourism Board, to be held in San Pedro at the end of July this year, could be an annual event that would essentially replace the Costa Maya Festival.

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The theme for the Costa Maya Festival and the Food and Music Fest are not the same. There is no reason why both festivals cannot occur annually. The general public is not always aware of the incredible amount of man hours, effort and organization as well as fund raising etc that must go into launching and hosting a successful festival. Here on the island every festival we have is organized by non- paid volunteers - so it is a huge undertaking as the majority of the organizers have businesses to run at the same time. Covid really put a dampener on festivals and also gave volunteers time to take a break and perhaps reassess their priorities. Ideally we can have volunteers that can spearhead events and then hand that baton to others in a few years, but the disruption over the past few years also disrupted that flow. There are a lot of events that the town can support and enjoy but it cannot happen without volunteers and sponsorship.