Where Does the Money From Sámara's Year-End Fiestas Actually Go?

Sixteen LED lamps light the main pier where people walk down to Playa Sámara. They were paid for with profit from the town's own fiestas. So was the remodel of the local Fuerza Pública station, according to Guananoticias. Every ticket, plate and drink sold at the Campo Ferial de Cangrejal over the holidays goes into one shared fund. That fund has a public ledger, an application process and a list of named recipients.

For two editions running, the ten days of bull riding, bands and dancing that close out Sámara's year have also served as the district's main pool of grant money for local groups. The money gets allocated through proposals, and the proposals are written and judged in the weeks before the music starts.

Who runs the fiestas now

Since the 2024–25 edition, the Municipalidad de Nicoya has given logistics for the Fiestas Populares de Playa Sámara to the Cámara de Turismo de Playa Sámara, known as CTPS. The chamber was founded in June 2022. As of September 2025 it had 75 member businesses in hotels, restaurants, tour operations, transport and related trades, which Guananoticias describes as the sectors that employ the most people in the district.

That makes the setup unusual. A business association runs the town's biggest public celebration, then gives the profit away to local schools, sports teams, women's associations and environmental programs. CTPS president Massimo Gambari has called it a new kind of management model. He told Guananoticias in August 2025 that the event "beyond pure fun, promotes community development."

The festivities themselves follow a familiar pattern. The 2025–26 edition ran from December 26 to January 4 at the Campo Ferial de Cangrejal, about one kilometer west of Cangrejal's soccer field. The New Year's Eve program included bull riding and the group Los Cumiches.

The ledger from the last edition

What sets these fiestas apart is how fast the numbers come out. Periódico Mensaje reported that the financial statement for the 2025–26 edition was public less than two weeks after the last event on January 4, 2026.

The rounded figures don't subtract exactly. ¢15.8 million minus ¢5.8 million comes to ¢10 million, while the report states a profit of ¢9.9 million. The stated figure is the one to quote.

The first payments went out in January 2026. The Asociación Deportiva Guanacasteca de Sámara received ¢607,000 and Grupo Las Costeñas received ¢507,000. On February 4, 2026, Periódico Mensaje published the full list of six recipients:

1. Liceo de Playa Sámara, ¢1.6 million to set up a classroom for gastronomy lessons.
2. Local Catholic church, ¢600,000 to paint a hall used for group activities.
3. Playa Sámara ADG, the men's beach soccer team, ¢607,000.
4. Grupo Las Costeñas, the women's beach soccer team, ¢510,000. This is listed as ¢507,000 in the January report.
5. Programa Bandera Azul Ecológica, ¢400,000.
6. Asociación CREAR, ¢400,000 for school supplies for its education programs.

Year one and year two put the money in different places

Comparing the two editions shows how the fund's purpose is changing.

The proceeds from 2024–25 were split between community groups and physical improvements. In August 2025, Guananoticias listed the recipients as the Asociación de Mujeres Costeras de Sámara, Colegio El Torito, the Escuela de Sámara, the Patronato Escolar de Sámara, Las Costeñas and the Asociación Deportiva Guanacasteca Sámara. A separate share went to tourism infrastructure, which paid for the Fuerza Pública remodel and the pier lighting. Gambari later told Periódico Mensaje that the first edition distributed ¢5.6 million in total.

None of the named 2025–26 allocations is for tourism infrastructure. The biggest single grant, the Liceo's gastronomy classroom, is about job training. Gambari explained it in exactly those terms to Periódico Mensaje, saying the goal was to train young people "in a fundamental area of the job market in our community," since tourism is the district's main source of work. In this edition, the fund shifted from lighting the pier to training the people who will work in the restaurants near it.

The second edition also earned more. It made a reported ¢9.9 million profit, compared with ¢5.6 million distributed the year before. But the six named grants add up to about ¢4.1 million. The published coverage through February 2026 does not say what happened to the remaining ¢5.8 million or so, whether it was held in reserve, spent on a later project or set aside for the next edition. In January, Periódico Mensaje reported that the proceeds would go to productive, social, economic and tourism projects run by local organizations, development associations and other Sámara groups. Anyone who wants to know more can take that question straight to CTPS.

The Blue Flag line connects to the beach

The ¢400,000 for the Programa Bandera Azul Ecológica is the smallest grant on the list. It is also the one most tied to the beach residents use every day. According to Periódico Mensaje, Sámara improved its Blue Flag rating based on work done in 2024. It went from one white star to three and added a green star in the sustainable-households category. Gambari connected the chamber's support to solid-waste collection drives.

The outside comparison helps. In Periódico Mensaje's March 2026 roundup of 51 recognized Guanacaste beaches, Playa Sámara held three stars plus a green star for 2025. Playa Nosara had two stars and Playa Guiones had four. So some of what people spend at the fiestas goes back into the program that grades Sámara's own beach.

How a group gets on the list

The application rules show that the fund runs on paperwork. For the 2025–26 edition, CTPS opened proposals on November 6, 2025 and closed them on December 15. That meant every application was due before the first event on December 26. Proposals went by email to [email protected]. Eligible applicants included development associations, school boards and sports groups. Per Periódico Mensaje's November 2025 report, the chamber set four requirements:

• The project has to have high social impact.
• The organization has to be legally in good standing, with its personería jurídica up to date.
• The group has to submit a detailed profile of the plan.
• The group has to state exactly how the money will be spent.

Gambari described the next step in the same report. In the month after the first edition, the funds were handed to recipient groups at a meeting. The 2025–26 cycle followed the same pattern, with first payments in January and the full list by early February.

This shows where the real decisions happen. By the time the bands set up in Cangrejal, the list of projects competing for the profit is already set. A volunteer group hoping to fund a new uniform set or classroom equipment would have to be ready by mid-December. If it misses that date, the event's success only helps someone else's project.

What the 2026–27 calendar looks like so far

The 2026–27 Fiestas de Playa Sámara haven't been publicly scheduled yet. No dates, organizer authorization or proposal window had been announced as of late October 2026. Last year's call for projects was published on November 10, 2025, with the window already open from November 6. The previous year's organizing schedule began earlier still. The Municipalidad de Nicoya granted CTPS its pre-permit on August 3, 2025, so the chamber could start lining up approvals with other agencies. Those dates belong to the last edition and don't confirm this year's. If the pattern holds, though, early November is when announcements tend to come.

The chamber's agenda also extends past the fiestas. In September 2025, CTPS told its members it was following the Plan de Gestión Integral del Destino Turístico Sámara developed with the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo. It was also organizing a road-safety workshop for motorcycle riders with the Consejo de Seguridad Vial, citing heavy motorcycle and bicycle traffic in high season.

Weekly life goes on as usual in the meantime. The Saturday feria runs from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., 150 meters east of the police station, selling local produce, seafood, meats and crafts. The next public CTPS announcements will show whether a third edition follows the same proposal, ledger and payout cycle, and whether its grants go toward projects like the pier lights or programs like the gastronomy classroom.

Our team at Engel & Völkers Costa Rica works out of a shop in Sámara, and we follow what happens in Cangrejal each holiday season like everyone else in town. If you'd like to talk about the town, the coast, or a property here, come by our Sámara shop.