By Jaco Brand

As some of you might know there are a lot of South Africans living in the USA and we miss our culture. So you may ask what is the solution? Well, an event catering for South Africans. From 19 to 21 April 2019 we had the first annual South African Braai & Potjie Fest, that was held in Richmond, Virginia.

It was attended by around 300 people who enjoyed this culture-rich event, having boerewors, jaffles, pies, rusks, koeksisters and so much more.

Friday kicked off with a braai and later that night we had a “sokkie”. Now if you talk about blisters on your feet the next morning from all the “kaalvoet sokkie” then you know people enjoyed themselves!

Saturday was the main day, we had “boeresport” with sack races, three-legged races and much more, with the main event the all ages men tug-of-war, and this was an all-out war. The potjie competition was in full swing by lunchtime and the teams were very competitive. Judging 16 potjies was not easy; all of them were very good and the first prize, sponsored by Worldwide, was won by a delicious curry oxtail potjie. We ended the night with a prize-giving and another “sokkie”, blisters or not.

The event was a huge success, everywhere you walked you heard Afrikaans, as if you were at home. There were large numbers of people smiling, networking, making jokes, playing rugby and cricket. We had so much fun that we immediately booked next year’s event, which will take place on 24 to 26 April 2020. This time we will go even bigger and better – hope to see you there!

We would like to thank Worldwide and all our other sponsors who were part of our huge success.