We had a good time at the 45th Elko Basque Festival over the 4th of July weekend. First we hit up the parade downtown on Saturday morning. We sat in the boiling sun and watched a steady stream of political candidates and church groups stroll by. The highlight of the hour was when one of the “floats” (and I use that term *very* loosely) hit the streetlight on 9th with their flagpole:
I guess living in Portland my whole life, I got kinda spoiled on parades. We had the Grand Floral Parade, which would cripple the downtown corridor for half a saturday every June, with flower-covered floats, marching bands and a sea of spectators perched on newspaper boxes and hanging from lightposts, half of them having camped overnight for the best spots. Elko parades just seem very…lame…in comparison. But the kids seem to enjoy it, since the participants still throw candy to the crowd, and at least we’ve still got Shriners in little cars!
We didn’t get to the fairgrounds until around 3:00pm, so we missed a lot of the festivities there, but we got to see the wood-chopping contest and a Basque dancing group down from Idaho. Here’s a video of it, I added my own touch, a little bit of Planet Rock! Overall a lot of fun, and I think we’ll definitely go next year as well.
Elko Basque Festival 2008 from Elko Steve on Vimeo.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Jim // Jul 16, 2008 at 11:27 am
I never knew Basque dancers from Idaho had such dope hip-hop dancing skills. Sweet!!!
2 Steve // Jul 16, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I should have photoshopped a Lasonic TRC-931 Ghetto Blaster into the clip. Hmmm…
3 Dave // Jul 17, 2008 at 9:10 am
Steve - You could put the ghetto blaster on those two red white and blue barrels . . .
4 Cynaera // Jul 24, 2008 at 4:43 pm
So - did you stick around for the food? Maybe the Basques have caved in to capitalism or the economy, but holy cow - they still feed the flocks!
I’ve lived in Elko most of my life, and I’ve only ever attended one parade. Hated it. Well, I hate parades, anyway, but… The true fun is after the “formalities and rituals.” Go when those Basque folk cut loose. I guess they don’t cook a pig underground anymore (and that was one of the high points, I’ve been told), but the food is still a ten. And, if you hate the pig-on-a-stick, go to the Star Hotel and order anything. You’ll get more than you can possibly eat unless you’re Jabba the Hut. Homemade soup, corn, baked beans, spaghetti (and that’s just in addition to the usual salad/potato thing.)
Let me know if you want me to get you a menu, in case you want to come back for seconds…
5 Steve // Jul 31, 2008 at 8:30 am
Of course the Star is the place to go if you’re in Elko for the first time. But that’s another post altogether.
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