EVENTS

Chamber of Commerce Public Meeting Tuesday, June 3rd at 7PM

The Chambers' theme "Por un Mejor Jaco" continues this year with Chamber members and Board of Directors continuing to increase the effectiveness in not only being the voice of business in the area but to also support the chamber in creating a sense of community in our region. The Chamber of Commerce is inviting the public to attend the next monthly meeting. The meeting will begin at the municipality on the third floor at 7:00 PM on Tuesday, June 3rd. It is open to the public. Please come and support the community. Please rsvp if you plan on attending at 643-2853.

Central Pacific Womens Group

We hope that you will join us for the next meeting of The Central Pacific Womens Group which will be held on Thursday, May 15th at 9AM on the second floor of Balcon Del Mar. We are hosting a very special guest: Rocio Madrigal who will be giving a free introduction to Costa Rica Food and cooking. She will be covering the following three recipes: Gallo Pinto, Sopa Negra and Tico Rice. We hope women will mark their calendar and join us for this fun social event. Please make a reservation if you plan on attending 26-43-28-53.

Art Festival in Jaco: May 24th thru June 1st

The Jaco Art Festival is planned for the week of May 24th and promises to feature some of the top talent in the Central Pacific area. The persons in charge of the event are inviting all local artists who wish to show their work to contact them and present their ideas. For more information, please visit www.novedadescr.com or contact Hugo Lopez at 2-643-4256 or info@novedadescr.com. For exhibitions of paintings, photography, or sculptures, please contact Yolanda Goulet 8-867-9704. Yolanda_goulet@yahoo.ca. The invitation is also extended to local businesses who are interested in participating in sponsorship of the event. For sponsorships, please contact Juan Carlos Rodo at 2-643-1000 or jcrodo@grupomarta.com

The Central Pacific Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that the year was ended in true holiday spirit with a very successful holiday party for the children of Garabito (See Christmas Party Photos). Over 1100 children were in attendance this past Saturday, Dec 22nd in front of the municipality. Not only did we have enough gifts and food for everyone; but we had many volunteers helping from throughout the community. It was truly wonderful to see everyone working together. Our local municipality did an excellent job collaborating with the members of the community to make this event a huge success. Extra holiday wishes to all those who participated and happy new year!

Please forgive us if we left anyone out: we will try to give thanks to everyone who helped and wish them the best holidays ever.

Special thanks goes to Dona Damaris, Dona Bettina, and Dona Yamileth from our city council and to Don Marvin, our mayor and his secretary, Alisia…. for being so open and working hard to make this event happen. Extra special thanks to all of the volunteers and donors: the guys from Red Cross, Transito and the Fire Department; Viria Arias, Rosa, the attorney from the muni and Alberto Garcia from the muni for helping to wrap gifts, Pat Hundley, Daystar, Brad Sanson and Kim LaFerriera, VistaCR, Chris and Jose form EL Bohio, all the girls from Tropical Moods Furniture Store, Linda from Doce Lunas Spa; Lindsay Saripkin and Catherine Fitton from Premier Realty for helping give out fruit, cookies and pastries, Norma Kahn for her excellent puppet making station and Ken Kahn for being the videographer, Jane Swindler and Susan Berglowe for having the bead bracelet makings station, Mike Sena and Trish for helping everywhere; Pratty, Jim, Amy and all the rest of the guys who helped on the grill, Cesar Vargas for helping coordinate the tents, Andy and Sharon and their La Familia Organization, Orlando Jimenez and Quebrada Amarillo dancers, Wendy and her crew from Salsastar Acadamy, Pamela Knapp and her crew for the face painting station, and Carol & Reggie from Zuma Rental Car who had the helium balloon station, Giselle and her coworkers from RAHAB. Siria, Gerardo, Joice and Shawn from Daystar; Dennis on the microphone, Miki with the music, Greivin from Mas x Menos; Juan Carlos Rodo and Victor at Bestwestern Grupo Marta; Deeno and the guys from Los Amigos; Bill from Jaco Taco; Jeff from CR Beach CostaRica, Hannah Fletcher and Luis Garro from Remax; Lisle, Ana, and Lori from Coldwell Banker, David Lekach from Acqua; the guys from Mead Brown; Larry Savage, Stay in Costa Rica, Omar from Macaw Development, the girls from Los Suenos Design Center who helped in collecting donations (Natasha and Jennifer; Paola; and Dorian from Luxury Rentals; Ruth from Pacific Design for the donations of the wonderful little girls tshirts and stickers; Jill & her husband Rich; Rusty; Jimmy from Jimmy T's; Melanie from Palm Coast Interiors for making those wonderful cookies; El Tubo Azul Playa Hermosa, Jason Garris from Las Olas; Joanna from OlaBonita and Andrea Diaz from Waves Costa Rica in Hermosa; Carol Angus; Enid and her sister, Vilma, and all the rest of the women from Central Pacific Women's Group who helped make this activity a success,David Fulton, the photographer and Ray the santa claus!

Thank you so much! Without all of the help in the community of Garabito; this event would not have been possible, Again, thank you so much and happy holidays in the true holiday spirit! Christmas Party Photos

Jaco To Host the Special Olympics Representatives Oct 26th & 27th Andrea Diaz from WavesCostaRica along with the Chamber of Commerce is organizing a Let's Go Surf Day for the children who represented Costa Rica in the Special Olympics. These children are in China right now and they are currently winning all of the medals. Jaco is proud to host them upon their return. We are looking for volunteers and sponsors to help make this event work. Daystar is donating the condos for their stay and Cabinas Las Olas is donating space for the press to stay. Special Olympics Photos

Everyone in the business community is pleased to hear that Jaco Beach won the distinction as Central America's Leading Beach! The World Travel Awards were established in 1993 to acknowledge, reward and celebrate the enormous achievements in all sectors of the global travel industry. Every year World Travel Awards Fever hits the travel community around the world, building to the crescendo of the annual Awards Presentation, when tens of thousands of travel professionals cast their favorites on the web and glue themselves to official World Travel Awards web site to learn who will receive the highest accolade of the year and this year: Jaco won the Leading Beach in Central America. Please see www.worldtravelawards.com for more information.