High-Energy Gospel to Light Up Belize City This Holy Week  

As Holy Week nears, Belize City is inviting residents to do more than reflect, it’s inviting them to come together. The Belize City Council is bringing back its popular Holy Week Revival Concert, a two‑night event that has grown from post‑pandemic healing into a celebration of hope and unity. This year’s lineup blends local talent with international gospel artists, promising high‑energy performances for all ages. Deputy Mayor Eluide Miller says the message goes beyond music; it’s about reconnecting as a community through faith and fellowship.

 

Eluide Miller, Deputy Mayor of Belize City

“We have our two day Holy Week revival coming up tonight and tomorrow night so we’re extremely excited about this undertaking. As you all know, this event was first held back in 2023 following the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic but that was also compounded by the impact of Hurricane Lisa as well. And so this is really the brain child of Mayor Wagner and he felt at the time that the city needed some sort of revival, renewal, a new sense of hope. And so that is how this event first came about. But we have quite a number of bands as you would’ve realized slated to perform over the course of the two nights. We have a wide diversity. Of course we have Christafari, which they’re known internationally. And of course we have the return of Sinach which I know a lot of people are extremely excited about. And so people can expect a family-oriented event, a community oriented event. We’re just really hoping that everyone will be able to come out, have a good time, have this great sense of community and really enjoy together as a community.”

 

Belize City Council Defends Holy Week Concert Costs

 

The Holy Week Revival Concert has pulled big crowds and strong support, but it hasn’t been without criticism, especially over cost. This year, Belize City Council says it listened. Deputy Mayor Eluide Miller says after concerns raised in 2023, the council leaned heavily on public and private partnerships to cut expenses. So far, those efforts have brought in more than one hundred thousand dollars in donations. With total costs expected to top two hundred and thirty thousand dollars, the council will cover the balance for what it calls an investment in community and unity. Here’s more from Deputy Mayor Miller.

 

Eluide Miller, Deputy Mayor of Belize City

“We took a different approach this time around having seen some of the feedback and concerns shared by the wider public the last time we had this concern, and I must say those concerns were a bit minimal. I think the event was widely accepted. As senator Wade shared today, it was by far the largest gospel concert that we’ve had in the history of Belize. And so I think the general public and the country on a whole they were very welcoming of this undertaking. But we wanted to take a different approach this time for numerous reasons, the cost of the event being one, but also we wanted to make it inclusive. And so we wanted to take on some additional partners. And so from early from late last year, sorry, we started to engage different agencies in the public and private sector and we were able to get just over a hundred thousand dollars in support from a number of organizations and agencies, right? That really speaks to the confidence of the business community as well in supporting this undertaking because they too appreciate the importance of the social fabric of our city and what this initiative contributes to that. And so just to provide a bit more context there, the total cost is looking like $236,000. And so the Council is bridging the gap, right? The Council is putting the additional $130,000 on top of what we’ve effectively managed to raise so far.”

 

City leaders say new public‑private partnerships cut costs, bringing in over a hundred thousand dollars, with the council footing the rest as an investment in unity.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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