History

The "first major interstate gathering of Basques, their families, and friends from all parts of the West,” and for all means an purposes the first Basque Festival as it is known today, occurred on June 6th and 7th, 1959 in Reno-Sparks, Nevada. It was intended to display the rich Basque culture and heritage present in the United States, initially in honor of Pete Itcaina, who immigrated from Basque Spain to the U.S. and was integral to the establishment of a strong Basque community in Nevada. This initial festival drew some 6000 attendees, simultaneously legitimatizing the place of the Basque populace in the Western US and presenting a possibility for tourism-based economic growth (Saitua).

Alongside the traditional Basque music, games, dance, and art shared during the festival, competitions and displays of other intimate aspects of a typical Basque livelihood were integral to the early festivals as well. These included sheepdog exhibitions, indicative of the Basque tradition of sheepherding, alongside communal poetry recitations and cooking sessions representative of the collaboration-oriented Basque society. The importance of camaraderie in rituals such as these is indicative of the importance of the Basque festival functioning as a collaboration with neighboring cultures (Saitua).

Although a ritual originated in American Basque communities, elements of the Basque Festival can be traced back to Basque country in Spain. Early examples of Basque festivals date back to the origination of the Basque Floral Games in French-Spanish border areas in the late 19th century, just prior to the immigration of many Western US Basques around the same time. The Floral Games intended to provide a gathering point for typical Basque celebrations, encourage Basque literary production, and promote collaboration between both French and Spanish Basques. This event formally ended in 1897, thereafter being replaced by festivals inspired directly by the American Basque Festival (Conversi).