Expect traffic delays and a crowd of over one million people gathering in downtown San Jose this Sat. 15 for the 11th annual Festival de la Luz. This festive parade, which is a little over 24 hours away, will include 15 floats, 14 bands, and thousands of lights and is one of the most important events of the Christmas season in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica News — Festival de la Luz in San Jose

Most people will start to gather in the morning hours for the event that begins at 3pm. If Costa Ricans aren’t there in person, they will be watching it from one of the many news stations that will be present to document the event that will pass down Paseo Colon and 2nd Avenue. These streets have already been closed down in preparation for the event.

The festival will start out with a parade called Carnaval, Christmas and Traditions in which music groups, dance squads, bands and masquerades will march down the street starting from 42nd street at the east end of Sabana park in front of the Luis Dobles Segreda highschool.

Three hours later, a firework spectacle on the west side of the Costa Rican Art Museum will announce to the crowds that is time for the main event. The 15 floats, which took hundreds of people and several months to perfect, will light up the streets as they begin their slow march accompanied by marching bands and cheerleaders.

When passing the city’s main hospital, San Juan de Dios, the bands have been instructed to remain silent so as to not disturb the patients. When they pass the Children’s hospital, they will proceed to play at a lower volume.

The floats were constructed by the San Jose Municipality, Librerías Universal, Bank of Costa Rica, Tropical drink brand, Wal-Mart Costa Rica, the Social Protection Committee, Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT), Institute of Sewers and Aqueducts (AyA), Coca-Cola, Sony Ericsson, Scotiabank, HSBC Bank, Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), the Colonia china and Purdy Motor.

The final float will carry about 60 young Costa Rican athletes that participated in the last Special Olympics in China. Other themes include a rock band float, a toy factory, a tropical garden, the recreation of a story and a replica of the icons from each Costa Rican province.

They will all be competing to be named “best float” at the Festival. The winners will be announced at 9:30pm the day of the festival by the judges who will be positioned in front of the Toyota dealership on Paseo Colon.

With almost 1/6th of the country’s population gathering in one place, people are cautioned to be very vigilant of their belongings, or even better, not bring anything of value with them. Parents have been instructed to put a piece of paper with the child’s name, their names, phone number, and address in their children’s pockets in case they get lost.

Map courtesy of La Nacion

This post's rating:

Related Stories

Filed under: Costa Rica News on December 14th, 2007