Maitland Riverlights multicultural festival 2019

During the afternoon and evening of Saturday, 12 October, four Esperantists (Andrew Spannenberg, Alan Turvey, Joanne Cho and Jonathan Cooper) travelled to Maitland, NSW, to participate in the multicultural Riverlights Festival of 2019. As before, Andrew worked diligently to set up a covered booth for the Esperanto Federation of NSW. On our table were several items (both for sale and free) and on both sides, a tall self-standing banner about Esperanto and Esperanto House. Several people stopped and asked what Esperanto was. Joanne was particularly effective as a propagandist. At 5:00 pm, in the nearby “Language Lounge”, Jonathan taught Esperanto to a small group of young people, using magnetic “radiko”-tiles that he created. At 8:15 pm, Joanne, Jonathan and his wife, Wanda, proudly walked with an Esperanto flag in the grand parade to the riverbank, where they watched a wonderful performance on and by the river. During this show, a slide with the word “Esperanto” and the Esperanto flag appeared in front of a simple map of Europe (see the photo, below). It seems that the creators thought Esperanto was a European country!

Interested person talking to Alan Turvey

Alan, Jonathan, Joanne and Andrew

Wanda and Jonathan marching with the Esperanto flag

Part of the audio-visual presentation, showing Esperanto