34th Annual Mexico International Volleyball Tournament June 27, 28 &29
 
The Mexico International Volleyball (MIV) Tournament, (formerly Estero Beach) is the largest beach volleyball tournament anywhere and typically hosts several thousand amateur and professional players from around the world.
This has been one of the city's biggest attractions and in addition to being able to watch great volleyball action, volleyball fans can also have a lot of fun because the entire atmosphere is one big party.

It's an interesting tournament because teams are picked by a computer and players are assigned according to their ability and experience. Friday and Saturday competition leads into the finals on Sunday and out of approximately 2,000 entrants only a few of the fittest survive.
After the final game, which is usually just before sunset, the prizes are awarded to the winners. Since Mike Brown and his friends started this event over 30 years ago it has always been about a weekend full of fun in Baja where you can leave the rest of the world behind.

And the best part of all, the volunteer committee has donated all excess funds to U.S. and Mexican charities. In 2007 donations totaled approximately $3,500. Recipients included Starlings Girls Volleyball Club of Tijuana, Susan Koman Breast Cancer 3-Day Walk, Torrey Pines High School Athletic Foundation, "Idol Gives Back," San Diego County ASPCA and the "Jared Baker Memorial Fund."
For more information regarding the tournament go to www.esterobeach.com.  

City Forms New Artist Association

As a strong supporter of the arts, Mayor Torres has always understood its importance to the community as a whole because the arts have always been a strong part of the Mexican culture and the city should honor its heritage with special attention to this sector of the community.

Rocio Hoffman was recently appointed as president of the newly formed AMAR, the Association del Movimiento Artistico de Rosarito, the Artist Action Association of Rosarito. Rosarito Beach has a thriving artist colony, estimated to be about ten years old, with several hundred artists of different types living here now.

Some of them are full-time, making their living as an artist while others are part-time, doing other work to supplement their income while cultivating their craft and building a following. "The art community is definitely getting more organized and growing significantly each year," said Hoffman.

"There are many artists working in paint or sculpture, composers, musicians and writers, probably four hundred now living in Rosarito," she went on to say.

Hoffman's goal as president of AMAR is to create the best artist community in Mexico and feels that Rosarito Beach has something that no other community in all of Mexico can offer: geographic location. To take advantage of that fact, she plans on having two big art festivals every year, each lasting two days and attracting thousands of American as well as Mexican tourists.
"Plans in are in the works to create an international art committee with San Diego which will raise awareness and give the community the recognition and respect that it deserves," Hoffman stated.

Condominium developments, which occupy much of the landscape now, are one of the best markets for art. New owners are investing in local artists for their new homes and the new Rosarito Beach Condo-Hotel includes original art as part of the sales price when people purchase one of their suites.

They believe that it not only helps to sell the condos but it also helps the community. Many of the art buyers from the US are shocked to see how inexpensive much of the artwork here is when compared to the prices they are used to seeing across the border, sometimes one-fifth the price. They can purchase an original oil or acrylic for the cost of a limited edition litho in America.

The city also has a cultural committee, headed by Luz Del Carmen Calderon, which is responsible for organizing concerts and other cultural events throughout the year.

Rediscovering Rosarito 

A delegation of graduate students in the Masters Program from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts visited Rosarito for three days in March for a school project. Emerson College is devoted exclusively to train professionals in the communications field.

Nine students and their professor, Dr. Gregory Payne, made the trip ultimately designed to be a fact-finding mission to create a plan to improve the city's image with people in the U.S. Through a series of arranged interviews with key people and businesses in the community, they are now devising a strategy to restore Rosarito's image as a safe and attractive option for tourism, conventions, real estate investments and an ideal retirement destination.

One of the first things that they presented was an online restaurant survey to be used to poll customers' opinions on the food, service, prices, quality, etc. However, stressing safety is their biggest concern because of all the negative publicity created by the American media -- bashing Baja, exaggerating news reports and not presenting all the facts. RediscoveRosarito is intended to produce a win-win outcome for all the stakeholders; primarily, the citizens, travelers, and businesses of Mexico and the USA.

For more information go to www.rediscoverosarito.org

13th Annual C'FEST Coming June 18 - 22

The largest college festival of its kind is about to take place again with over 10,000 students from colleges and universities across America converging upon Rosarito Beach for five days of fun, music, tournaments, and plenty of school spirit. The city is looking forward to the experience and with all of the new safety precautions now in place it should turn out to be a good one.

The beach in front of Papa's & Beer plays host to the event which should help to considerably bolster the city's economy.
For more information go to www.collegiatecircuit.com/

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