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l Festival Español de Nueva Iberia finished up another year of festivities celebrating New Iberia’s Spanish culture Sunday with a Mass at St. Peter’s Catholic Church. 

The Mass paid tribute to the founding families of New Iberia, which include the surnames Bouligny, Gary, Lopez, Migues, Prados, Romero, Segura and Viator. At the beginning of the Mass, family representatives carried flags down the aisle of the church as the Mass began. 

The Spanish families received a warm greeting from the Rev. Alexander Albert, who even opened the Mass with a Spanish message of welcome and English translation. 

The Mass also gave thanks to mothers due to the Sunday falling on the Mother’s Day holiday as well. 

The end of the service signaled the end of Spanish festivities. Reflecting on the past few days, La Asociación Española de Nueva Iberia Chairman Ebrar Reaux said the festival as a whole went wonderfully. 

The Spanish Festival took a yearlong break last year after organizers decided to reschedule the yearly event for the spring instead of the fall. Reaux said the festival is a small one compared to other New Iberia events, but is community and family-oriented.

“It was wonderful,” he said. “The weather was beautiful. We had a nice crowd. It may have been a little hot, but I prefer hot to the wet weather we had in the fall.”