Despite threats of marches and demonstrations, Nicoyans are preparing to celebrate 188 years since the Annexation of Nicoya to Costa Rica on Wednesday, the 25th of July. Organizers of the municipal committee of culture in Nicoya are all set to offer a week of cultural performances and festivities in the plaza of the colonial church.
The activities begin the 23rd and continue through the 29th of July. The official opening is at 6 p.m. with a speech from Mayor Marco Antonio Jimenez, a concert with the municipal symphonic band and the presentation of international folk groups from the Philippines, Argentina and UNED of Nicoya.
On Tuesday the 24th, at 6:30 p.m. the folkdance group La Gran Nicoya will perform. For the evening, the band Red Wine will get the dancers moving in the Nicoya Park.
On Wednesday the 25th, activities begin at 8 a.m. with a civic ceremony at the Annexation Monument. Two hours later, the President of the Republic, Laura Chinchilla Miranda, will give her speech.
For the afternoon we recommend you make room in your schedule, because for the first time in Annexation festivities, the bulls have been called to participate in the fairgrounds located in La Cananga. The bull riding starts at 2 p.m. In conjunction with the bull riding activity, at 3 p.m. there will be the “tope,” a parade of horseback riders.
At 5:45 p.m. in the new church, there will be a concert with the July 25th Symphony and the National Symphony Orchestra. That presentation will finish at 6:30, when a parade will head out amidst fireworks towards the main stage, where there will be a tribute to sculptor Donald Jimenez of La Mansion.
At 8 p.m. there will be a presentation by the group Folkloric Projection from the Technical College of Nicoya, and Nicaraguan singer Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy will close that night.
Other days’ activities begin at 6 p.m. on the main stage, in addition to bull riding from 2 to 6 p.m.
And to finish off the celebration of 188 years of annexation, on Saturday the 28th, the concert will feature LuisGas y los Anejos, Nicoa 37 and Ojo de Buey. On Sunday at noon there will be a parade of oxen with the traditional ox carts, bull riding and a concert.
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