Dear Editor,

I have been following the three days bash that the Belize Brewing Co. has been hosting in Belize city for the last years. I do honestly believe that the concept is an excellent one but the implementation is very short-sighted and unbalanced.

Having three days of festivities basically beer drinking and music in the same venue is a win-win situation only for Belize Brewing Co. Ltd.

I have been a bar and club owner for almost fifty years and I have seen and felt what those three days do to neighborhood clubs and entertainment spots in the old city. For three days, clubs and other outlets are basically put into an “induced coma” by this event. On these nights we do minimal business, and at twelve midnight, when the event is over, the patrons who leave [the bash] visit the clubs, but are so intoxicated that many places would rather just close for the night than entertain them.

Does Belize Brewing Co. Ltd. know what it costs to license and operate these businesses, only at the end of the day to have to compete with the very company who produces and sells you the beer to retail? This company also operates its own retail spots in the city. I believe they call that – having your cake and eating it too!

My suggestion (which I know will fall on deaf ears) is for this bash to be spread over three or four weekends in September, where Belizean artists and bands are spread over the city at different entertainments spots where the promotions can be spread evenly. Belizeans will not have to be walking miles to BTL Park for entertainment.

Last, but not least, have events for families and kids at different parks in the city in September. Families can’t take their children to BTL Park, where people are literally falling over them.

Sir Barry’s Belikin Bash can be meaningful. Sir Barry would be proud!

Alfonso C Ramirez
A Belize Brewing Co. Ltd. customer for almost fifty years.

P.S. – My club is the Passion Night Club, formerly Ambassador Lounge, formerly Democratic Bar, established 1945.