Liberia to Host First Guanacastearte Festival

LIBERIA, Guanacaste – Liberia is the center stage this weekend for the Guanacastearte 2008, a new cultural festival that will showcase hundreds of regional, national and international artists.

The event started Thursday and runs through Saturday. Beginning each day at 10 a.m., an artisan fair will fill Central Park. At 6 p.m., the musicians – including trova star Max Goldberg, musical poet Guadalupe Urbina and French harmonica blower J.J. Milteau – will take over the park.

Artists will perform dance and theater at the Municipal Gymnasium; national cinema and poetry will be on display at the Edificio de la Antigua Gobernación de Guanacaste.

“The object of the festival is to be a window that stimulates and promotes the art and culture of the Guanacaste province with a global vision,” according to a statement by the Regional Cultural Office of Guanacaste, the event’s organizer.

The festival is expected to move to other locations in the northwestern province of Guanacaste in the coming years: Hojancha in 2009, La Cruz in 2010 and Abangares in 2011. Admission is free.

–Devon Magee