Sunday, May 5, there was a celebration of the Independence of Israel in Hyde Park. Israel is 61 years old this year. Sponsored by the JCC (jewishtampa.com) there was the usual Israeli food (delicious), games for children, crafts for children, a jumping house, booths for organizations, flag bearing, a huge birthday cake made from cupcakes - very clever - and live programming from the Sunday Simcha which comes from WMNF. There had been a run/walk earlier in the morning with T-shirts that said something clever - Chai something??? What a memory I have.
As per usual, we offered to do Israeli dancing for the occasion, and were accepted as per usual. However, firm plans were never made. When we arrived, it turned out there was no speaker system for us to use - Hyde Park failed to do their part in this - and we were not going to be able to dance. WMNF (Mark and Kevin) saved the day by suggesting that we wait until 2:00 (we were supposed to go on around 1:15) and then we could use their system. So that's what we did. However, the actual celebration ended at 2:00, so there were not very many people that stayed to watch us dance. Luckily Mark and Kevin had announced us a couple of times, so some people were kind (mostly our friends!). We had intended to have audience participation as the main thrust of our dancing, so performed only 3 dances. Only about 6 people danced with us in the participation part, but at least we had fun, although it was pretty darn hot! If you're not familiar with WMNF and the Sunday Simcha - go to WMNF.org - it's a great radio station, supported by us, using us as volunteers (my daughter and I volunteer), and having very eclectic programming. See picture below of us dancing - as soon as Jen sends me a picture! Last year I made buttons for all the volunteers, and I not only danced, I helped run the children's games. This year they did not ask me to do anything, I had to remind them to have us dance, so I didn't make buttons - boo!!
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