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THE
2010 NATC CONVENTION WILL BE HELD IN LISBON AND BADAJOZ IN JUNE By Mario
Carrión |
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THE
2010 NATC CONVENTION WILL BE HELD IN LISBON AND BADAJOZ IN JUNE By Mario
Carrión |
|
The National Association of Taurine Clubs of
America---NATC---is an umbrella organization that includes most of the American
taurine clubs. Since 1963, the NATC has held an annual congress in different
cities of the United States, Mexico, France or Spain, such as Los Angeles,
Aguascalientes, Tlaxcala, Zacatecas, Mont-de-Marsan, Nimes, Salamanca, Seville,
Bilbao, Jerez, Logroño and the last one in Malaga. The goals of the annual
convention are to deal with business matters related to the organization; to
offer members and guests the opportunity to immerse themselves in multiple
taurine events; and 
to promote the connection and rapport among its members, as
well as between them and the aficionados and taurinos from the place where the
convention is taking place.
The
NATC 2010 Congress will be held in Badajoz, Spain, with a prelude in Lisbon,
Portugal, from June 17 to June 24, and will be hosted by the Club Taurino de
Chicago, a taurine club located in that
city. It is customary that each year one club among the NATC member clubs takes
the responsibility from organizing the congress.
For some time, José Velázquez, President of the Club Taurino de Chicago, and some members of that club and with the assistance of Portuguese Matador Victor Mendes and that of Juan Barco in Lisbon and Bedajoz, have been very busy organizing the program for the congress.
The brochure announcing the 2010 NATC Convention sent by the Club Taurino de Chicago highlights the most important features of the program, which also includes several other taurine and tourist experiences that will be announced later:
June
17-June 19 in Lisbon:
-Arrival
in Lisbon to the Barcelona Hotel, located near the plaza de toros
-Welcoming
Reception
-Tour
of Lisbon
-Visit
Escuela Taurina de Villa Franca de Xira
-Visit
Ganaderias Portuguesas Pahla and another
-Bullfight
in Lisbon a la usanza Portuguesa
June
19 –June 24 in Badajoz, where the famous tauirne Feria de San Juan is being celebrated:
-Arrival
in Badajoz via motorcoach from Lisbon to stay six nights at the HUSA Gran Hotel
Zurbaran
-Four
bullfights and possibly a fifth
-Visit
to the rancho of “El Juli”
-Reception
with local Peñas Taurinas
-Visit
with the Mayor of Badajoz
-Awards
Luncheon
The price for the convention, which covers the hotel and the
partaquing in the programmed activities, is $2,500, per person for double
occupancy, and $3,000 for a single. For farther information contact José Velazquez, E-Mail: Taurinodechicago@aol.com
Anyone who has attended any
of the conventions of the National Association of Taurine Clubs of America, can
testify that those well organized congresses offer American aficionados a
unique occasion to immerse themselves in multiple taurine events, which usually
are not within the reach of regular aficionados travelling independently. The
2010 NATC Congress at Lisbon and Badojoz, both cities with great taurine
tradition, will not be an exception, since it promises to be another convention
that will leave a lasting memory in the minds of the participants.
