Homedale Picnic was fun!
I was reminded today I never made good on my promise to tell you guys about the Basque picnic in Homedale. Sorry! It´s been a busy summer, with work, kids and all kinds of fun little trips here and there, like last week’s weekend visit to Elko, for yet another Basque event. But here I am!
Homedale was a lot of fun, even though we missed the lunch by about an hour! And that after I had posted right here on the blog the schedule for that Sunday. Oh, well… Luckily, they had a little stand set up outside where they were selling chorizo and solomo sandwiches, soda, wine, beer, and who needs anything else, right? So we got our food, headed to the little hill facing the stage, and roasted in the sun for about three hours while we watched the Homedale Basque dancers, the Oinkari dancers, and the Txingas and Soka-tira competitions. Oinkari kicked Homedale’s butt in Txingas, but then the locals returned the favor in Soka-tira by winning twice in a row in a best out of three contest.
We saw a bunch of old friends in Homedale, and made new ones as well. Like Olatz Amarika, the Larrabetzu teacher who has brought several students from the Basque Country with her exchange program, which aims to to strengthen the bond between the communities in Boise and the Txorierri Valley (in Bizkaia) by sharing common and distinct cultural knowledge and experiences. Apart from learning English, of course. You can visit their Facebook page for more information here.
Txoko Ona’s Gloria Lejardi saw that I was there with my parents, who are visiting from the Basque Country, and made sure they didn’t leave empty handed. She took us back to the office and let us have our pick of t-shirts, hats, key chains and bracelets! My kids have not taken their hats off since then, and my parents have already worn their t-shirts on more than one occasion.
And that’s pretty much how the evening went. We got to eat, talk to people, meet new people, and even got presents and a tan!
