15th Annual Festival de la Luz On December 11

On December 11 the 15th annual Festival de la Luz will be held in San José. This is the most spectacular and most visited of all year end activities that ushers in the Christmas season.

The mayor of San José, Johnny Araya, made the official announcement on Tuesday. The Festival is sponsored by the Municipalidad de San José, "a Christmas gift to the people", according to Araya.

Up to a million spectators are expected to be on hand along the parade route from the Sabana park to Plaza de la Democracia, while another 2 million are expected to watch it on television.

The parade route moves from the Coca Cola Christmas tree across from the Gimnasio Nacional, along Paseo Colón, Avenida Segunda to the Plaza de la Democracia.

The first time the Festial de la Luz took place in 1996. The concept of the parade marshal was introduced in the year 2000, when public figures where given the honour. This year the parade will be lead by a group of past marshalls that include sports figures like Nery Brenes, Claudia Poll, Francisco Rivas and public figures like CNN en Español, Glenda Umaña, members of the Grupo Editus, Maria Jose Castillo and others. The only past marshal that will be conspicuously absent is astronaut Franklin Chang.

If you cannot make it to the live event, local television channels 6 (Repretel), 7 (Teletica), 42 (Extra) and 13 (Sinart) will all have extensive coverage and interviews.

The Festival de la Luz also includes competition for the best float.
http://www.insidecostarica.com/dailynew ... 120108.htm