The twenty-fifth iteration of the annual festivities at Palmares has not disappointed anyone thus far; in fact this year’s celebration of what has become the de facto end-of-vacation carnival for Ticos has been mostly characterized by being more orderly and less raucous than in previous years. Two of the three major events that make Palmares a massive celebration have already taken place: the traditional Tope (equestrian parade), and the first Sunday concert.

This year’s headliner at the first Sunday concert was one of the biggest musical acts to take the stage in the history of the Palmares fest. Reggaeton superstar Don Omar took the stage preceded by Plan B, a duo that brought out a handful of curvy dancers onstage. Local acts Banton and Toledo warmed up the crowd with their own brand of Tico dancehall rap and sharp-witted social commentary. For those who may not be familiar with Banton or Toledo, the song Todo Esta Caro (Everything’s so Expensive Now) is a good primer, as it features an amazingly accurate list of grocery prices at places like Pali, circa 2010.

According to online news daily Costa Rica Hoy, Don Omar managed to attract nearly 20,000 people, including our dear reader Nestor Fernandez, the lucky winner of tickets to the concert, courtesy of a giveaway organized by The Costa Rica Star. If you click on his Facebook profile, you can see when Nestor arrived in Palmares thanks to geolocation technology.

Don Omar took the stage at Palmares with much fanfare in the form of fireworks and a sleek video display. He launched into the reggaton anthem Dale Don Dale and continued to shake up the crowd before finishing his set with last year’s multi-platinum hit Danza Kuduro. Between songs, the sexy reggaeton artist Natti Natasha joined Don Omar to the delight of the males in the audience. Don Omar left the stage earlier than planned, as he’s a busy man these days, but the restless crowd was pleased.

The afternoon weather turned cloudy and pleasant for the concert, giving the Cruz Roja a much-needed respite from the usual flurry of dehydration cases caused by hot, dry weather and consumption of copious amounts of beer. The Red Cross is keeping 70 dedicated emergency medical workers at Palmares. Fuerza Publica has also been kept busy by those who choose to drink a little too much, as seen in this video captured by one of our photographers. La Nacion reported that 50 pickpockets were detained in flagrante delicto at the Tope. Transit Police has also cracked down on drunk drivers, nabbing eight so far, and they are stopping public transport inbound from San Jose (looking for known troublemakers), as well as all vehicles leaving Palmares (looking for drunk drivers). Transit Police has warned that officers will be issuing tickets for expired licenses and tags. To avoid traffic jams caused by the security checkpoints, drivers are advised to take the Atenas-Orotina highway which links with highway 27 towards Caldera.

The fun at Palmares will continue this week with family-friendly events, improvised bloodless ìbullfightsî, and the big closing Imperial concert. Cerveza Imperial has been doing a great job covering the event from a social media standpoint. While activities unfold at the Barra Imperial, El Guia Imperial is making sure everyone is kept up-to-date on Twitter and Facebook on everything that transpires at Palmares, officially making Imperial the mayor on Foursquare. The musical lineup for the final concert is to be announced.

An event of the magnitude the Palmares festival isn’t free from controversy. Digital news daily El Pais reported that only a few days prior to the opening of the festival, a citizens group in Palmares filed several complaints against City Hall before a variety of judicial entities about irregularities in the planning of the event. According to the complaints, a strong resolution from the Procuradoria General de la Republica (a technocratic government audit agency known by its Spanish acronym PGR) prohibits the Palmares municipal government to offer contracts for the administration and planning of the event. Still, City Hall has been granting extremely lucrative contracts to select companies to handle the event, and some citizens are concerned that the deep profits pocketed by the event organizers aren’t being passed on to the residents of Palmares.

Clearly the municipality of Palmares is ill-equipped to handle the organization of its annual festival, but City Hall has the option to put together an event committee, something that has not happened. Instead, the event organizers are often the same sponsors and advertisers that end up pocketing most of the proceeds thanks to complex contracts, something that leaves many Ticos scratching their heads.