Basque Club of Utah (Murray)

As Basque immigrants made their way to Utah and other Western states, a mainstay of local Basque culture was the Basque hotel and boarding house. Such residences run by recent immigrants for new arrivals once existed in Salt Lake City, Ogden, Price, Bingham Canyon, and Park City.

Among the most well-known Basque boarding houses was the Hogar Hotel, owned by John and Claudia Landa and located at 126 South 200 West in Salt Lake City. The Landas, who immigrated from the Basque Country, are fondly remembered in Utah's Basque community as grandparents to all.

The Hogar Hotel, built in 1927, became a stopping point and a haven for Basque immigrants making their way to ranches throughout the West. It also offered a familiar atmosphere for local Basque families, who used it as a restaurant, meeting place, and a cultural center of sorts. The Hogar Hotel's closure in the mid 1970s spawned the creation of the Utah Basque Club, which held its first annual picnic at Saratoga in Utah County in 1974. Since the founding of the club the Utah Basque Club has grown in size and now includes about 200 members of Basque descent. The Utah Basque Club is a member of the North American Basque Organization, and sponsors various cultural events throughout the year.

Basque club members meet regularly to preserve their culture through traditional Basque dances, music, language, games. Perhaps the Utah Basque Club's most visible contribution to Utah ethnic culture is the Utah'ko Triskalariak Basque Dancers, a traditional dance troupe known throughout the western United States. The group of about twenty-five dancers performs Basque dances locally and also travels to perform with other dance groups at Basque festivals in California, Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming.

Source: www.members.aol.com/utahbasq