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There Will Definitely Be NO "Zapote" After All
Following heated debates the Comisión de Festejos 2006-2007 last week approved the annual fair on the east side of San José and on Wednesdays the awarding of concessions took place, including the awarding of the "rondel de toros" - bull ring - to a firm for ¢40 million colones.

However, the Sala Constitucional or Sala IV as it is often referred to (Constitutional Court) damped the festival following a "recurso amparo" - appeal - presented yesterday by Jorge Muñoz Somarribas.

The move means that the annual festival is off, including any plans to hold the annual fair on the Curridabat portion of the fair grounds that make up the area known as Zapote.

While San José was debating the annual fair, officials of the Municipality of Curribadat, said that their plans were complete and the Zapote Fair would go ahead as planned on the smaller portion of the fair grounds.

Alexander Zamora, president of the fair commission said yesterday that they will be evaluating the possibility of moving the fair to another location, however, time is short and the possibility of the even taking place in 2006 seems remote.

In addition to the discussions at the municipal level, the Ministerio de Salud (Health Ministry) had warned San José officials that the fair grounds were not safe and that Salud would not be giving out the required permits to the concessions, especially the food and rides.

One of the major reasons is that the fair grounds, located adjacent to the Pricesmart, is too small to handle the estimated 25.000 visitors and did not have enough emergency exits, which was confirmed and supported by the Comisión de Emergencias (National Emergency Commission) in addition to the Salud concerns.

With the acceptance of the appeal by the Sala IV, which can take thirty days or more to render a decision on the motion, the Concejo Municipal de San José and the Comisión de Festejos threw in the towel.

It is now for certain that Josefinos (residents of San José) will be eating their tamales (a typical holiday food) without the bulls and the Zapote mayhem.