San InazioBOISE, Idaho — celebrates St. Ignatius of Loyola, the patron saint of the Basques. The Basque community comes together every year for this celebration on the Basque Block in downtown Boise.
The festival features music, dancing, food, sports, and history. It's a way for the Basque culture to be passed as children get together every Tuesday leading up to the festival to learn dances that they will perform in front of a crowd.
WATCH | Cultural dance performances & people trying paella for the first time!
"San Inazio is celebrating the Basque culture and Basque dancing with all your friends and coming together with Basque families," said Beck, one of the dancers. "It’s fun because you get to learn about your culture while doing what your culture did."
Boise features the largest concentration of the Basque population in the United States, as they migrated to this area generations ago to be sheep herders, and San Inazio helps infuse the next generation with that history.
"It’s really something special to see grandparents and great-grandparents watch those kids carry on the tradition that they started so many years ago," said Annie Gavica of the Basque Museum. "To now see those cultures and that tradition being celebrated and such a big part of Boise is really fortunate; we are really happy to see that."
The San Inazio features food, and you can find Tony every year at the Basque Market cooking up his famous paella. People come together to play sports like golf and pelota, and there is a street dance at 9:00 p.m. on Saturday.
One of Gavica's favorite parts of the festival is welcoming people who don't know anything about the Basque culture. She tells us it is fun to introduce them to the culture and that everybody is welcome at the free festival.
"I really love watching people experience the culture, participating in it and trying the food and the dances for the first time," said Gavica. "It's an opportunity to share our culture with them."
San Inazio finishes up on Sunday with more performances, a handball demonstration and another street dance. These activities kick off at 6:45 p.m. on the Basque Block.
