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The announcement was made as part of the inauguration of the Immigrant Plaza in Villa Mercedes, where the local Basque club had a stand with the collaboration of neighboring clubs.  The Regional Euskal Etxea unites clubs in Coronel Moldes (Cordoba), and Villa de Merlo and Vila Mercedes (San Luis) and will make its debut at the 2017 Immigrant Festival in Mercedes.

Villa Mercedes, Argentina.   On Saturday, July 22nd, the city of Villa Mercedes, in the province of San Luis, inaugurated Immigrant Plaza.  The green space is located at the entrance of the city on Los Alamos and Aviador Origone Streets.

As explained to EuskalKultura.com by Julio Esnaola, “The Association of Businessmen and Friends of the Estacion Neighborhood has organized, since 2001, the Provincial Festival of the immigrant with 24 communities including the Euskal Etxea.  This year, with the support of the city, it has inaugurated Immigrant Plaza at the entrance of our city near the amphitheater on Angosta Street, an emblematic place where the Provincial Festival of the Immigrant takes place and of which our club is one of the main organizers.”

The inauguration was organized in two parts; an official ceremony that included local and provincial authorities who lit the light son the new boardwalk and cut the ribbons to the sounds of a hymn; followed by performances of typical songs and dances, and traditional foods.  The Basque stand provided pintxos and stuffed peppers.

“The menu at the stand was coordinated by Marita Echave, from Gure Zainak Basque Club in Coronel Moldes and author of the book Basque Rural Cooking.  The idea is to continue doing things together and so that is why we created the Regional Basque Club with members from Coronel Moldes, Merlo and Villa Mercedes,” Esnaola explained.  In the words of Echave, the project is an excellent idea to save effort, expense and a great way to get together and share places.  We are going to start something new.”

The first step of the Regional Euskal Etxea will be to attend the 2017 Immigrant festival in November in Mercedes at the new amphitheater.