The future is won fighting for it and the New England Basque Club has not hesitated to put all their eggs in one basket and embark on the organization of its first big Basque Festival in New London, downtown on the waterfront. Even if the big day is Saturday, on Friday afternoon they will also have a warm-up pintxo-pote something that has never been seen in these parts. On Saturday, the program will run from 11am-8pm and will include pintxos, traditional dishes, music, cider, dance performances and herri kirolak, a parade….
New London, CT USA. All that is left are some final details since a team of volunteers led by Juan Mari Aramendi, New England Basque Club president, have already been working on the event for a year. They expect attendees from all over the country both Basque and non-Basque alike.
Beginning today, artists, dantzaris, athletes and cooks will make their way from California, Nevada, Florida, New York as well as other places including Montreal and Quebec Canada. These include musicians and dantzaris from San Francisco’s Zazpiak Bat, and Gauden Bat from Chino, CA. Members of Ardi Baltza will also be participating form Lamoille, NV.
Food will be provided by Amona Events in New York and Mikel De Luis will present gildas, antxovies in vinager, brochettes, cheese and seafood. Txistorra and paella will be provided by Paella Grill, owned by Luis Elu and Paella Party, owned by Boni Guenetxea. The Txikito restaurant in New York led by Eder Montero and Alex Raij, will provide Cantabrian Bonito escabeche, “Pintxo Tutera,” from the Navarrese garden and “Bacalao ajoarriero.”
Herri Kirolak including exhibitions of harri jasotzea (stone lifting), aizkolaritza (wood shopping), lokotx biltzea (corn cob races) txingak (weight carrying) and sokatira (tug-of-war) is being provided by the hosting club’s team.
There will also be a trainera exhibition with a team of rowers from the Quebec Basque club, based in Montreal, who are joining the effort by local athletes and participants.
Tickets are available for purchase here.
PROGRAM
Friday, June 22
- 17:00. Pintxo-Pote. Place: Thames River Greenery.
Saturday, June 23
- 11:00am, Parade from city hall to the Nathen Hale School. Including trikitilaris, txistularis, dantzaris, athletes etc. institutional representatives led by the Mayor of New London, other local authorities, the Delegate of Euskadi to the US, NEBC president, NABO representatives….The US and Basque flags will be raised to the singing of hymns. Aurresku.
- 12:00pm, Herri-kirolak exhibitions, alternating music and dance performances. Parade with the trainera, musicians, and dantzaris to the Maritime Museum. Aurresku in honor of men and women of the sea, a 25km journey down the coast in the trainera. Dancing, music and other athletes will return to continue the program on land.
- 15:00pm, Food
- 17:00 pm, Mus Tournament
- 17:00 pm, Basque Music
- 19:00 pm, Raffle (20 Basque-made cestas)
- 20:00 pm, Closing ceremonies
-New England Basque Club: http://nebasque.org
-Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewEnglandBasqueClub
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