Paella, pintxos, kalimotxos. These are a few of my favorite things... and just the beginning of Basque culture that you can find here in Boise. Today's story was written by Sharon Fisher and teaches you who the Basques are, how they got to Idaho, and where you can experience Basque culture. Listen to me read it on today's podcast. Enjoy!

Exploring Boise’s Basque history

By Sharon Fisher

Many American cities have neighborhoods dedicated to and honoring different ethnic groups, but Boise is just about the only one to have such an area designated for the Basque culture.

Who are the Basques & how did they get to Idaho?

Basques come from the Pyrenees region bordering Spain and France. According to the National Trust for Historic Preservation, three million people of Basque descent still live in the region, while several hundred thousand live elsewhere in the world. The organization notes that Boise, Idaho, has the highest concentration​ of people of Basque outside the Pyrenees (a total of about 16,000).

Basque are unusual in a number of ways, but one of the most notable is their language, which they call Euskara. So important is the language to their identity that Basque call themselves Euskaldunak, or “speakers of Euskara.”

“The Basques have had ethnologists and linguists scratching their heads for centuries; their unusual language is related to no other anywhere else in the world,” the National Trust writes. “The current consensus is that their language developed before other Indo-European languages did, which would explain its uniqueness.”

Many things that people typically think are Spanish, such as tapas, chorizo, and paella, are actually Basque in origin.

So how did the Basques get to the U.S., and to Boise in particular? Like many immigrants, the first wave of Basques was drawn by the lure of gold in the mid-1800s. But the Basques, like others, soon learned that mining is a tough way to make a living. So they looked for other work, though in many cases were hampered by a lack of higher education and English-language skills. Consequently, they worked in fields such as mining, timber, and, most of all, cattle ranching and sheepherding.

That led to the second wave of Basque immigration, from the 1900s to the 1950s. Based on their reputation of being hardworking, trustworthy, and honest, ranch owners (like Frank Parsons, who hired his neighbor’s Basque sheepherder to help run what’s now known as the ​Schick-Ostolasa farmstead​) looked for more to hire. Owners started asking, ‘Do you have a brother or a cousin who can help?’ and that’s when the second group started to emigrate here. The third group came later, drawn by economic opportunity. They settled wherever there was sheepherding – southwestern Idaho, southeastern Oregon, northern Nevada, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, and California.

Basque history in Boise

If they were sheepherders, why settle in Boise? Because that’s where the train station was, which made it easier to find work.

Basques found more than work – they found community that reminded them of home. “A lot of Basques who came before them figured out they wanted to work a little harder and get out of sheepherding, and they established boarding houses,” said Annie Gavica, executive director of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, in Boise. “They didn’t stick to one area or neighborhood, but wherever property was available.” At their height, there were as many as 50 Basque boarding houses in Boise, ranging from Third Street to 12th Street, and from Front Street to State Street, she said.

While no single neighborhood held all the boarding houses, some gravitated to Grove Street between Sixth Street and Capitol Boulevard, what today is known as the ​Basque Block​. “The Basque Block itself had four Basque boarding houses just on this street,” Gavica said. “It became the nucleus of the Basque community,” especially once a Basque clubhouse was built in 1949.

Down the street, in a Basque boarding house built in 1914 by Anduizas, was another attraction. “When they built it, they put in a ball court” – which Basques call a fronton – “in the hopes that, when the boarders aren’t sleeping, they’ll spend more time and buy a drink or lunch rather than venturing out, or to attract more boarders,” Gavica said. "In the Basque Country there’s a fronton in every town, no matter the size. They’d be very familiar with the court and the sports associated with it. It was very much a sense of home for them, to participate in handball or pala,” another Basque game.

Another cultural center for the Basques, who were largely Roman Catholic, was the church. So the Basque community raised funds and built its own church, the Church of the Good Shepherd, which was dedicated in 1919, Gavica said.

Where you can find Basque history and culture in Boise today

On the Basque Block

The place to start your exploration of Boise's Basque community is the ​Basque Museum and Cultural Center​, which includes regular standing and rotating exhibitions, a museum shop, and regular events and classes.

Next door is the ​Cyrus Jacobs/Uberuaga House​, which operated as a Basque boarding house between 1910 and 1969, and is today a museum.

Across the street is the ​Basque Market​, which features ingredients from the “old country,” delicious prepared foods, and events which are often centered around food. Every Wednesday and Friday at noon, you can get fresh paella made in a pan the size of a wagon wheel out on their patio.

At the corner of Sixth and Grove is the former Basque clubhouse, now known as the ​Basque Center​. It’s now a public bar and rental space, often hosting events for the Basque community as well as others.

Across Sixth St. from the Basque Center is the Basque restaurant ​Leku Ona​.

Up Grove Street from the Basque Museum is the ​Anduiza Building​, the former boarding house that holds the fronton. There are adult leagues in the fall and spring that teach people how to play the sports if they don’t know how. You don’t have to be Basque to play, just a member of the association.

At the corner of Capitol Boulevard and Grove Street is ​Bar Gernika Basque Pub and Eatery​. On Capitol, around the corner from Grove Street, is a ​Basque mural​ celebrating Boise’s Basque culture, including a sign explaining who everyone is.

Bookending the Basque block are ​two public art exhibits​ honoring Basque culture, by Boise artist Ward Hooper.

In the Old Boise Building at 560 W Main Street is ​Ansots Basque Chorizos​. Owned and operated by Dan, Tamara, and Ellie Ansotegui, Ansots makes a variety of chorizos, marinated solomo, and Basque bacon. The Ansotegui Inchausti family has been a part of the Idaho Basque scene for over a century and Dan Ansotegui has been involved in the Boise food scene for 40+ years, starting both Bar Gernika in 1991 and The Basque Market in 1999.

Preservation Idaho holds weekly ​WalkAbout Boise​ historic preservation tours on Saturdays from May to mid-November. They start on the Basque Block and feature a number of stops there.

Beyond the Basque Block

The Basque Museum has a map showing the locations of the former Basque boarding houses, some of which are still extant. “All of the boarding houses that are still standing, you wouldn’t know it was a boarding house,” Gavica said, though some have signs.

And if you’re willing to leave Boise altogether, ​Epi’s Basque Restaurant​ in Meridian serves homestyle Basque food.

Basque festivals

If you want to really immerse yourself in the taste of Basque culture, go to a festival. In Boise, that would be the ​San Inazio festival​, put on by The Basque Foundation (also known as Euzkaldunak). San Inazio happening this weekend, July 26-28, 2024. You can see the full schedule of events here.

Friday is casual and consists of people hanging out on the Basque Block, eating, live music, and pala tournaments at the fronton.

Saturday is the main day of the festival, where Grove Street is shut down and music and dance is on the schedule all day, starting at 11am. There is also a Basque golf tournament at Warm Springs Golf Course starting at 7am and pala tournaments at the fronton starting at 10am.

Saturday night includes a Mass at St. Mark’s Church, which features not only a reading in the Basque language but also a traditional Basque dance from the city of Oñati and a performance from the Biotzetik Basque Choir. Following Mass is a street dance until about 11 pm on the Basque Block.

Sunday evening has more performances, music, and food on the Basque Block, all starting around 7pm.

Best of all, you don’t have to be Basque to attend. All events are free and open to all. Note that the bar at the Basque Center is 21+.

For a San Inazio festival on steroids, go to ​Jaialdi​, a week-long festival that happens once every five years.

Jaialdi was postponed in 2020 due to COVID, and while it was hoped it could be held in 2021 and then in 2022, eventually it was just called off. The next Jaialdi is scheduled for July 29-August 3, 2025.

In years past, Jaialdi typically brought dancing, music, and food to the Basque Block. There has also been a “sports night,” held at the Idaho Central Arena, with traditional Basque rural sports such as weightlifting, weight carrying, and other feats of strength and endurance. During the weekend, Jaialdi has events at Expo Idaho and features dancing and food, with additional events on the Basque Block. The 2025 schedule is beginning to take shape, which you can find here.

Up in Sun Valley, the ​Trailing of the Sheep Festival​ is set for October 2-6, 2024. The annual festival celebrates and preserves the history and culture of sheep ranching and herding in Idaho and the West. It’s an incredible event to witness and I highly recommend seeing it at some point in your life.

While Basques aren’t as much of a discrete community in Boise as they once were, they still play a very important role in Boise's identity and culture.

Thanks for reading!

With love from Boise,

Marissa

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