Palmares in Alajuela, prepares like every year for its traditional festivities, two whole weeks of music, parades, dancing, sporting events and plenty of other entertainment.

Palmares “a town to make friends”, offers activities for the entire family, if you have been part of the end of the year events in Costa Rica, this is just a continuation of these.

The activities this year kick off on Thursday, January 10 with the traditional horse parade at noon, it continues on Friday with “RockPack” a concert with Fran Cosmo, the former lead singer of the band Boston; Wally Palmer original voice for The Romantics; Paul Shortino, former vocalist of Quiet Riot; Jimy Sohns lead singer for The Shadows of Knight and Bobby Kimball original and longtime frontman of the rock band Toto.

Bars and concerts for the adults, mechanical games and fair for children, will be happening all week.

On January 12, the MTB competition “Clásica Palmarín” will take place at 9 a.m. and in the evening hours the “Festival Ranchero” (traditional music of Mexico) featuring Mexican singer Paquita la del Barrio as the main performer.

Athletic competition, rodeo, Costa Rican style bullfighting, carnival are also part of the agenda of activities that will close it’s activities with an international concert on January 20 with a lineup that has yet to be announced and finally impressive fireworks on January 21.

Those interested in attending the concerts can purchase tickets online through publitickets.com.

Food trucks and a variety of food options will also be available.

If you are planning to attend, check out the schedule of activities and choose the best day for you, go early, (expect heavy traffic), if possible go with a local or with a group of friends.

If you plan on attending the bars make sure you are not driving, the party scene can get out of hand and for your peace of mind and security is best if you have a designated driver; if you are attending the tope or going early in the day, take sunblock, water bottles, and prepare for a long day. Take only the necessary items, even though there’s police presence and private security, prevention is the best security measure.

Many people who want to really take in this celebration choose to stay in a hotel in the area, this is a good alternative but the few hotels in the area are usually completely booked days in advance, choose a hotel in a neighboring town as an option.