The first Herri Kirolak Picnic at the Euskal Etxea of Miami left us curious images last Sunday, like the aizkolari, and harrijasotzaile, sokatira and txinga competitions in a paradisiacal environment, on the sand and on the coast of a lake surrounded by tropical palm trees. The festival included the participation of friends who came from both coasts, New England and San Francisco, and a great time was had. Following is a complete photo gallery of the day.
Miami, Florida. The Miami Basque club organized its first Rural Sports Picnic on Sunday, February 7th, a festival of herri kirolak, and Basque culture that gathered 140 adults and some 20 children. As on other occasions, the event took place on the Angulo family’s lake property who generously donated the venue for the festival.
The goal of the festival was to raise awareness and support for rural sports among the Basques in Florida, as well as raise money to help Joseba Andoni, who is suffering from the results of an accident in his infancy. Unfortunately, the event didn’t draw the size of crowd that was hoped for, probably because it was held on Super Bowl Sunday. Nevertheless, the efforts of its organizers need to be recognized, the team led by Boni Guenetxea, as well as the participating athletes and those who attended.
“I want to sincerely thank everyone who came on Sunday,” Guenetxea told EuskalKultura.com. “It was a wonderful cool sunny day. According to the feedback we’ve received, I feel like it was a total success.” The team of volunteers who worked so that everything was a success was comprised of Conchi and Armando, Magu and Ernesto, and the Guenetxea family, along with seven employees from our catering company who “got up early and gave their all so everything turned out as we hoped,” Boni said.
The festival included the participation of a group of herri kirolarisak from the New England Basque club, as well as others who came from San Francisco, California. Guenetxea stressed “the efforts put forth by the aizkolaris who traveled from New England and California. How we would like to have them in Miami to wake up our culture and traditions a bit!”
Following is a photo gallery (more images here: www.euskaletxeaofmiami.org):