The Basque community of Chino, Calif. hosted the annual Basque summer camp Udaleku, which culminated with a three-day festival for the Southern California Basque Club’s 80th anniversary.

The North American Basque Organizations also held its annual summer convention during the weekend, bringing 37 delegates from Basque clubs all over the U.S.

Ziortza Olano Astigarraga, the new Director of the Basque Community Abroad and Conchi Aranguren, Delegate of the Basque Government to the U.S. and Canada, attended the NABO meeting and spoke with the delegates about the Basque Government’s plans for the U.S. diaspora. They also attended the weekend’s festivities.

Udaleku takes place every year in different Basque communities and the campers, ages 10 to 15, are hosted by local Basque families.

“I’m proud because they are taking care of the Basque culture,” said Mikel Alzate, 13, who came from the Basque Country with his family to attend Udaleku. “I made a lot of new friends,” he said. His mother, Amaia Cordoba, taught Basque language classes to the campers.

Uxue Perez came from the town of Urretxu in Gipuzkoa to teach Basque culture and Ibai Arroitajauregi, of Lurreta, Bizkaia, taught pilota (handball) at the camp. Perez said the experience was amazing. She was so immersed in Basque culture during camp that sometimes she had to remind herself that she was in California, she said with a laugh.

The Southern California Basque Club organized the weekend festivities, which were in celebration of the club’s 80th anniversary. The club is one of the oldest in the U.S.

Friday included handball games with Udaleku campers, a dance performance by the Oinkari dancers from Boise, Idaho, as well as musicians and the local Gauden Bat dancers, plus a dinner for the many guests, all at the Centro Basco restaurant in Chino. Saturday featured a mus tournament and an evening dinner that included the culminating performance for Udaleku’s 64 campers at the Chino Fairgrounds. On Sunday, the club hosted its annual festival, also at the fairgrounds.

“Sunday was the biggest picnic we’ve had in years,” said committee chairman Dominic Etcheberria. He added that the club was very happy with the turnout at the festivities, which included the campers, their parents, the NABO delegates, Boise’s dancers and local Basques.

Read about the history of the Southern California Basque Club.