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Euskal Lagunak Potluck and Mus Practice

Please join our friends at the Euskal Lagunak Basque Club in Mountain Home, Idaho next Thursday, February 26, 2026, for a Potluck and Mus Practice to prepare the upcoming NABO Qualifying Mus Tournament on March 7th. The event will take place at 183 N 2nd St. Mountain Home ID 83647, at 4:30pm. Please bring a dish, or a side to share. For more information, please visit them on Facebook.

Fresno Basque Club Mus Tournament

The Fresno Basque Club will host its annual NABO Qualifying Mus Tournament on Saturday, February 28th at the Santa Fe Basque Restaurant and Bar. Registration will begin at 7:30am with play following at 8:30am. Teams are asked to register by Thursday, February 26th. Cost to participate is $90 which includes membership dues and lunch. You can also join for lunch only for $35. For complete information on how to register for Mus or Lunch, click here.

NABO Winter Meeting

Meeting The NABO Winter meeting was held last Saturday, February 14th, at the Basque Cultural Center in South San Francisco in conjunction with the BCC’s 44th Anniversary festivities. NABO delegates attended in person and on Zoom, and were joined by Conchi Aranguren Laflin, Delegate of the Basque Country to the United States and Canada, and Kinku Zinkunegi, Director of the Euskara Munduan program that is now part of the Etxepare Basque Institute. Many lively discussions took place, and it was great to see such engagement by the clubs represented there. Highlights of the meeting included the renaming of the NABO Mus Tournament to the Pierre Etcharren NABO Mus Tournament in honor of Pierre’s steadfast dedication to the NABO Mus program since its inception. The delegates also voted on the recipients of the 2026 NABO Bizi Emankorra Award. This year those will go to Jeanette and Mike Bidart for their contributions towards maintaining the art of Bertsolaritza in the United States, and to Philippe Acheritogaray for his many, many years of dedication and hard work in NABO in various capacities. Zorionak deneri! The next NABO meeting will take place on July 3, 2026 in conjunction with the Southern California Basque Club’s 80th anniversary festivities and NABO convention. More details regarding that event are available here. Please enjoy photos of the meeting provided by Philippe Acheritogaray, as well as photos of the Basque Cultural Center’s Bizi Emankorra Award recipients that included Philippe, Valerie Arrechea, Christian Iribarren and Fr. Rene Iturbe. On behalf of everyone at NABO Zorionak Deneri, and a huge Mila Esker to the BCC and the San Francisco Basque Club for hosting this wonderful event. A great time was had by all!

Ontario Basque Club Charity Dinner Dance

Please join our friends at the Ontario Basque Club for their 77th Annual Charity Auction and Dinner on February 28th at the Ontario Armory (1330 SW 4th Street). The event will begin at 5:30pm and will include a silent auction followed by an authentic Basque dinner prepared Chef Jesus Alcelay, Executive Chef at the Cottonwood Grille, in Boise. After dinner, there will be a lamb auction followed by a performance by the Oinkari Dancers and live music by Hori Bai for your dancing pleasure. For more information, or to purchase your tickets, click here.

Basque WWII Veterans Monument Location Revealed

Last weekend, as part of the festivities at the Basque Cultural Center, there was a thank you dinner held for those who have donated to the WWII Basque Veterans Memorial Project. Besides showing gratitude to those who have contributed so far, the occasion also served to unveil the location of the monument. WWII Memorial committee chair, Mayi Petracek, gave a summary of the project to date, and then unveiled a poster with a rendering of the monument in its location, the Heritage Park in Gardnerville, Nevada. Mayi explained the process the committee followed for choosing the location and then set out next steps to see it through completion. Becky Sarratea, president of Gardnerville’s Mendiko Euskaldun Cluba was in attendance and assured every one of the club’s commitment to the project as well as that of the City of Gardnerville who has already generously donated the land for the monument. “We are proud that Gardnerville will be the future home of the National Basque WWII Veterans Memorial — the first national monument in the United States dedicated to honoring World War II veterans of Basque descent. This historic memorial will permanently recognize the names, stories, and sacrifices of Basque Americans who served during WWII. It will stand as a lasting tribute to courage, heritage, and the enduring contributions of the Basque community to our nation.” Dr. Pedro Oiarzabal, principal investigator for the Fighting Basques Project, which focuses on Basques who have served in World War II, and has led efforts for the National Basque WWII Memorial, also addressed those present reminding us all that this is a community project. If you would like to learn more about the project or would like to make a tax-deductible contribution towards its completion, click here.