Iparreko Ibarra Besta Northern Valley

The Iparreko Ibarra Basque Club in northern valley of California, the Rocklin area, hosted their 4th annual  Eusko Besta (Basque festival) and Mus tournament on Saturday, October 11th, 2008.  This event took place at the Rocklin Community Center in Rocklin.  The city of Rocklin is located in the greater Sacramento metropolitan area. Many Basques recently moved to this area and decided to start a Basque club six years ago in order to stay involved in Basque culture.  Allyn (Goyenetche) Terpstra, a first generation Basque living in Rocklin, is one of the founders and directors of the club.  She has been instrumental along with her fellow directors in starting the club and this yearly fall Besta event.   They are very happy with the support and work of all in wanting to not only keep, but to grow the awareness and participation in Basque culture.   They have proved that all the hard work has paid off.   The event was a success not only with the number of people who showed up, but with the richness of everyone's participation.   As an old Eusko proverb goes:  Gaurko izerdia, biharko ogia - today's sweat is tomorrow's bread.

The organizers had a full-day of events scheduled and each one was with Eusko warmth and activity.  The Mus card game txapelketa (tourney) is now a yearly event here.  Euskaldun junior and senior are learning the game of Mus and improving their skills.  This year's first place winners in the junior category were:  Andrew Goyhenetche and Alex Goyhenetche.  2nd place: Erica Fosse & (missing name but have the photo in gallery below)   The adult Mus txapelketa winners were;  1st place - Nikolas Vizcay & Juan Vizcay.   2nd place winners:  Jeanne Goyhenetche & Emile Goyhenetche.

Kantari Eguna (Song Day) was celebrated in conjunction with the besta.  This is an event where Basque choirs from all over the United States travel to perform.  This year Eusko choirs came from Idaho, Nevada and California.  Irrintzi (Warning/War cry) and sagi bota bag drinking contests were held in fun-like competitive spirit.  Part of Eusko culture is its delicious cuisine.  Iparreko Ibarra went the extra mile to prepare dinner.  Barbeque lamb and chicken were complimented with autumn comfort foods of tomato stew, babarrunak (bean soup) and green salad.   

Eusko dancing troups; Iparreko Ibarra and Zazpiak Bat Dancers performed lively dances for the dinner crowd.  To cap off the evening, a romeria (evening dance) featured everyone's favorite;  The Jean Flesher band.   Everyone, young and old enjoyed and danced to Jean's band.