Euskal kultura

Basques in Salt Lake City, UT had an intense weekend, last weekend with the celebration on Saturday, of the NABO Winter meeting followed by the club’s Basque Dinner and Dance,” the club’s main fundraising activity. The NABO meeting began at 8am and concluded by noon; the dinner dance began at 6pm and the festivities ran into the night. Both were a success.

Salt Lake City, UT. The Basque Club of Utah was the host last Saturday of the first NABO (North American Basque Organizations) meeting of the year. Beginning at 8am, representatives of the member clubs gathered at Saint Ambrose Hall for a meeting led by NABO President, Valerie Arrechea from San Francisco.

Delegates reviewed NABO’s activities through a series of committee reports from the various committee chairs. Some of these include: Euskera that NABO carries out with the help of HABE, the Memoria Bizia project, pilota, Udaleku that took place last year in Salt Lake City, and this year will take place in Chino, CA, exchanges with the Basque Country, local, regional, national and International Mus tournaments, 2017 NABO Convention that will be hosted in Buffalo, WY, last year’s Kantari Eguna in Rocklin, CA, and this year’s in Gardnerville, NV, educational projects, as well as presentation by Iñaki Arrieta, librarian at the Basque Library at the University of Nevada, Reno and Joseba Etxarri, director of EuskalKultura.com. and the presentation of a new Basque Government intern in Boise, Intza Balenciaga, who will be there until June. For a recap of the meeting see this week’s NABO newsletter Astero. After the meeting NABO delegates and guests were treated to a wonderful luncheon feast prepared by the wonderful club chefs.

Beginning at 6pm the Basque Dinner and Dance festivities began. Food was delighful. Lunch was prepared by a team of volunteers from the Basque Club of Utah led by Jean Flesher and dinner by Johnny Cendagorta. Once again the lunch and the dinner were wonderful, and everyone delighted in the typical menu that included porrusalda, bacalao, green beans, steak and a homemade dessert for chocolate lovers.

The Dinner Dance is a Basque Club of Utah activity that is attended greatly by non-Basques that are attracted year after year by the success of the event that includes great Basque food and entertainment by the club dance group the Utah’ko Triskalariak, interspersed with raffles, and silent auctions and other events to make the evening enjoyable and financially beneficial to the club at the same time.

The day concluded with a dance to the music of Jean Flesher and his band. Here is the day’s schedule of events.

Photo Chronicle of the day: