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Attendees at this year's Elko Basque Festival will be able to bring home a special keepsake. The Euskal Etxea is planning to turn their festival's program into a small magazine, filled with anecdotes, stories, and old photos from member families. Cassandra Torrealday is in charge of the project and she told EuskalKultura.com that, besides helping them raise money, “this will turn the program into something that people would enjoy saving.”

Elko, NV. This year's Elko Basque Festival will be held July 1st through the 3rd, but the Club is already working on the program. “We are collecting family stories and photos to include with the advertising and the event schedule,” explained Torrealday. She posted the ad on the Club's website two weeks ago and, although she has not been contacted by any members yet, she's sure people will participate. “We will print about 1500 programs that will be more like a magazine to keep and collect.”

This will also help the Club raise some funds, since the contribution for having a family's story printed is $100. That along with the money the Euskal Etxea receives from local businesses since ads are a very important source of funds. “I also think more businesses will put their ads in the program if they know people will keep it,” she added. The idea to make the program more attractive came, actually, from the Winnemucca Basque Club, after a member of the Elko Euzkaldunak Club saw their festival booklet.

Torrealday believes this might also be another way to tighten the bonds among the Elko Basques, by getting to know more about each other's origins. Likewise, she hopes that, “with this stories, non-Basques from Elko will know more about us, even though most people already know about the Basques.”

Nowadays, the Club has around 350 members, including three kid's dance groups.

*If you're interested in sharing your family's stories, please contact Cassandra Torrealday: (775) 233-3178 and ctorrealday@gmail.com