euskalkultura.eus

Newport, RI, USA.  The Rhode Island Basque club celebrated its annual picnic on August 25, an outdoor festival that took place at Colt State Park in Newport and a good time was had by all.  The event gathered youth and adults who participated in games and activities organized for the club, including an exhibition of traditional rural sports.  This was the moment that members, the majority of which are former jai-alai players, showed that they were still in shape!

[Unloading trunks for the wood chopping competition and the stone for the harrijasotzailes (photo RIEE)]

This year members of the Rhode Island Euskal Etxea were accompanied by Mayte Galardi and Iñaki Goikoetxea, graduate assistants of the Department of Basque Collectivities of the Basque Government, that were visiting to conduct Basque cultural workshops as part of the Gurea 2012 program.  Besides participating in the events of the day, they both organized various games for the kids and the next day, held another workshop for activities for kids in another park in town.

[Greetings from Newport!  Four key embers of the Rhode Island Basque club completely enjoying themselves at the event (photo RIEE)]

[New generations involved: a little boy from the club shows figurines made at a workshop about San Fermin (photo RIEE)]

“The Rhode Island Basque club is like a koadrilla in the Basque Country,” Galardi and Goikoetxea explained to EuskalKultura.com.  “The majority of the members are from Markina and Mutriku, the world hub of Jai Alai during the 70s and 80s.  All of them are close to the same age, between 40 and 50 and they showed us that they were still in shape during the rural sports or herri kirolak exhibition: txingas, stone-lifting and wood-chopping.”

The Basque club named both youth honorary members for the year and they presented both with the “Honorary Member Award,” in appreciation of their work.

[Mayte Galardi and Iñaki Goikoetxea receiving their “Honorary Member Award” certificates from the Rhode Island Basque club (photo RIEE)]

These photos and much more on the club’s Facebook page, here.