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Rev. Jorge Duenas leads the Eucharist celebration during the Dia de la Familia celebration held at Ed Wiest Baseball Field on Sunday in Brawley. Food, music, horseshoes and a jalapeno-eating contest were part of the festivities. (DENNIS JACOBELLI PHOTO / November 5, 2012) |
BRAWLEY — Family and good times were the themes for this year’s Dia de la Familia, or Family Day, here on a breezy Sunday at Ed Weist baseball field, an event that helps kick off the week’s worth of Cattle Call events.
The festivities got under way with a Catholic Mass early Sunday morning as multiple parishes and local churchgoers attended. “There was a lot of representation from all the different local parishes. They brought their families and now we’re going to let them get their menudo, their shaved ice and tacos and settle in for some music,” event coordinator Sarah Chairez said.
The event featured a jalapeño-eating contest, horseshoe throwing competition, bounce houses, a children’s arts and crafts station, games, music and piñatas for the children, with tacos, menudo and an NFL corner complete with multiple TVs set up, showing Sunday’s football games throughout the festivities.
“This whole function helps to start off the celebration for Cattle Call week and brings us together to say, ‘OK, let’s celebrate this beautiful week of events as a family.’ We have a whole big extended family that put on this event together, so it’s kind of perfect,” Chairez said.
The event coordinated by Chairez and Alma Benavides drew a larger crowd this year as opposed to previous years, Chairez said. She added she believes it means they’re doing something right.
“I think it’s very important for all the families to get together like this and get into the spirit of the Cattle Call week,” Chairez said. Enjoying the festivities Brawley native Carolina Cortes-Ramirez brought her family out to take part in the morning Mass and eat some tacos and shaved ice.
“We came to attend Mass and to my surprise they honored veterans. With my husband a veteran, he got to participate in that part of the Mass, so we’re just enjoying the food afterwards. It’s a beautiful day and this brings the community together and gets everyone involved,” Cortes-Ramirez said.
Having just recently moved back into town, Frank and Jessica Beltran were happy they were able to make it to the family event with their children.
“It’s a nice day for some family fun time with everyone,” Jessica said. The event also saw many attendees from out of town participate in the fun. Jessica Benavides from the San Francisco-Bay Area drove 10 hours to her hometown of Brawley so she wouldn’t miss one of her favorite Cattle Call events.
“This event and Mariachi Night are my favorite. It’s a great event to bring the family together and just keep up the Cattle Call tradition,” Benavides said.
The event went on from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday with many people attending the event throughout the day.
Staff Writer Celeste Alvarez can be reached at 760-337-3442 or at calvarez@ivpressonline.com
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