The Ontario, Oregon Basque Club will celebrate, on February 28, its 68th Charity Dinner – almost a must-go for locals, both Basque and non-Basque. As usual, a live lamb will be donated by the Gabiola family but, this year, Amuma Says No will bring back the spirit of Jim Jausoro's Band, since past member Domingo Ansotegui’s son, Dan, is the accordionist of the folk group from Boise. “We are very happy to have them here. We hope they will attract more young people to the dance,” told to Euskalkultura.com Lisa Corcostegui, president of the club.
Ontario, OR. “We’re going to have again a Basque band at the dance for the first time in a decade,” pointed out, excited, Corcostegui. And Amuma Says No is a band with a good amount of followers, something that the president hopes to help this dinner attract more people. In fact, this year, for the first time, the Ontario Basque Club is selling two different type of tickets: one that will give access to both the dinner and the dance, and another one just for the concert. “We hope to have more people than usual, even though it’s kind of a gamble. The usual people will most probably come, but we’d also like people that like Amuma, but don’t normally attend this dinner, to come too.”
Corcostegui is especially interested in drawing the younger generations. “We think that bringing Amuma Says No can help younger people to be introduced to tradition, and that’s one of our goals.” To do so, the Euskal Etxea is also offering a PayPal service to get the dinner tickets online; “we’re making an effort to be in the 21st Century,” she quipped. Prices will range from $25 for adults to $7.50 for kids 3-12, for those interested in joining the dinner too; and for those planning on joining the crowd after the meal, to be done by 7:30 p.m., the entrance fee will be $10.
Dinner is scheduled to start at 6:00 p.m., followed by a 30-minutes-performance by the “txikitxus (little kids)” of the local Beti Alai Dance Group. “We had a nice older group, but most of them quit, so right now we have little kids, and some girls from 10 to 12,” said the spokeswoman. And she added: “The txikitxus are really cute and this gives them a chance to get excited about the dinner too.”
The annual lamb auction, sponsored by the Gabiola family, will run between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. As explained by Corcostegui, traditionally, most of the money has gone to community charities and “recently, we’ve given the money to the Payette (ID) and Malheur (OR) counties, because most members of the club live there.” Since 1973, the club also funds the Marge Plaza Scholarship, for students of Basque descent to go to the Treasure Valley Community College.
Amuma Says No’s concert will be icing on the cake. They will play live between 9:00 and 11:30 p.m., when the ball will officially come to an end.
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