Sometime in the nineties, I vaguely remember my friends saying they are going to an Ethiopian Soccer Tournament at TC Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia. Other than that distant memory I had no familiarity with ESFNA or with its vast outreach.

So I was stunned, I think that’s the best word I can use, when I saw the amount of people that came out for this year’s Soccer tournament. Granted it was the 25th anniversary of ESFNA, regardless I have never seen so many Ethiopians in one place.

By popular demand bernos had decided to showcase our shirts at one of the booths. We saw so many of you there…it was GREAT!!! Worth every effort, headache, and sweat!

A little video Nyalasmoke created for us featuring Andromeda‘s iRock Joint.

I’m overwhelmed in attempting to recap all that took place. Let’s see there was our fantastic booth, the opening ceremony, the people throughout the week, and food, and parties (the bARTIES)!!! The opening day…INSANE!!! We definitely didn’t expect that many people to be there. I think all the “in-towners” came out that day!

The opening ceremony was great too. Monday was light, but as the week went on the crowd grew more and more. I want to say thank you to all of you that stopped by to say hello, those who whispered your press names (ababiru). I think it’s easier to count who didn’t show up rather than who did…

I tried to pretend to know who Masinko was but failed miserably!

The Barties

Promoters from the DC metro area and some out of towners came together to throw an an azing week. There was DC Dynasty (that included talk of dc), DC ALL STARS, and of course the Mansion parties. The YoDiddy and her DC Dynasty crew that include veterans Danny Davis, Dee and TAZ kicked things off right with a party for the classy.

The hottest party was on Wednesday night, ABREN ENE FORRIF, but I guess not surprising since our very own Beshou was the host. Six hundred people inside and another 100 plus still waiting outside! It was INSANE!!! Beshou next time way bigger venue…

Bernos Fashion show

Thursday night LOVE was the place to be. With a bernos fashion show and Big Tigger as the host, it was a grown and sexy party! There was a live performance by Kilenm that kicked off the show.

“The show was AMAZING!” We had so much fun putting it together. Our fantastic make-up artist and stylist was Amber Lucas. In addition to Beshou, Our photographer was JC…who simply is the BEST!! Also, I want to say a special thank you to Matt Andrea who took some of the pictures shown here. As you can see they’re great!!

Friday was a chilled hangout at THE MASION. We needed to relax after all stress from the fashion show. The outside atmosphere with the stars, the pool, and lounge chairs, oh and the ridiculously cheap bottle prices (for the drinkers) was just right. People had mixed reaction to this party, but the bernos crew and I had a great time!

With Wayna and Queen of Sheba performing Live it was a Cali kinda party. People jumping in the pool by the end of the night, the girl in the white dress that didn’t know she shouldn’t have done that…priceless!

Saturday was bitter sweet since it was the last day. We were happy all the stress was soon over, but the finality of it was sad. The festivities ended with a DC All STAR party at Union Station that had the Fire Marshall come out to shut it down. I didn’t know Ethiopians partied so hard.