euskalkultura.eus

Porto Alegre, Brazil.  The Third Basque Culture meeting of Rio Grande do Sul will take place this Saturday, June 8, in the city of Pelotas 256 km from Porto Alegre, and less than two hours from the border with Uruguay.  There are many Basque families who live in this city and region, due to its proximity of Uruguay, according to Basque club sources.

Program of Events:

-14:00 – opening with a personal presentation by the Basque club board of directors attended by the Delegate of the Basque Government for South America, Ms. Sara Pagola.  Some local authorities will also be in attendance as well as Oskar Goitia from the Sao Paulo Basque club.

-15:00 – Talk on Basque History and Immigration by Professor Mikel Ezkerro from Buenos Aires

-16:00 – Talk by Chef Haritz Aramburu from Donostia on Basque cuisine – sweets and desserts

-17:00 – Presentation of Basque club’s blog

18:00 – Cocktail

This event has been organized by the Rio Grande do Sul Basque club, the RS Basque club by its regional group of the city of Pelotas along with the directors from Porto Alegre, a group effort.  The organizational group in the city of Pelotas includes: Fabrício Iribarrem, Ricardo Irigon, Vera Sallaberry, Elimar Insaurriaga and João Pedro Zabaleta. In Porto Alegre the team includes: Ana Luiza Etchalus, Haritz Aranburu, Laura Ramirez Bruña, Valério Askonobieta, Ana Maria Longaray, Alejandro Argañaraz, Diego Irigoyen, Claudia Etchepare and Guilherme Escosteguy.

Organizers expect about a hundred attendees.  The meeting will take place as part of the Naitonal Sweets Fair, a very important festival in the region with people attending from many near-by cities like Pelotas, Rio Grande, Aroio Grande, Bage, Canguçu, Santana do Livramento, Santa Vitoria, Porto Alegre as well as people from Uruguay.

The Basque club has also let us know that they plan to organize four such meetings annually: in Porto Alegre, Pelotas, Santana do Livramento and Uruguaiana, key cities for its regional strategy.