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Local Basque heritage showcase...
The audience began clapping and cheering as Ben Monasterio stood before the crowd. In his hands was a flag consisting of white and green stripes emblazoned on a field of red.
Monasterio took to one knee as the other members of his group bowed in reverence. Taking the flag of the Basque homeland, he swung it overhead in reverence to the homeland of many of the people that had gathered in the local community park that evening.
That one moment had special significance for the Basque dance group and others in Mountain Home that can trace their ancestry to this homeland. For years, this dance, known as the Ikurriņa, was banned in their native country as to suppress this ethnic culture.
On Saturday, this tradition and many others came to life during a yearly celebration as hundreds of people gathered in a small park on the city's west side. Celebrating its 56th anniversary, the local Basque picnic remains the time of year where people can get together and enjoy special friendships forged by tradition.
During the afternoon, members of the local Basque community paused to honor Dr. John Bideganeta, who provided a donation to pay for improvements to the park area. His monetary contribution led to the addition of a new concrete pad next to the Bengochea Hotel.
For years, the hotel served as a temporarily first home of sorts for many Basques that emigrated to the United States from their homeland. They came to Mountain Home with hopes of starting a new life here, bringing with them their own unique language, customs and traditions.
"The Basque people have helped me over the years, and I wanted to show my gratitude," Bideganeta said.
The new concrete pad allowed organizers to set up vendor tents on this new surface. Previously, these tents ended up on the street between the hotel and the local Basque park.
"We wanted to put things closer together, so he came forward and donated the concrete," said Richard Urquidi, a representative with the Euskal Lagunak organization -- the Basque club in Mountain Home.
Eventually, the ethnic group wants to add more improvements around the Basque area, including a storage shed to hold equipment used during the yearly picnic, he said.
Throughout the afternoon and well into the evening, hundreds of Basques and guests gathered next to the hotel and the park across the street. Many of them took refuge from the summertime heat by gathering beneath tents set up on the lawn next to the historic hotel.
A few played cards while others chatted on a variety of topics. Some of those conversations were spoken in Euskal, the native language of the Basque people.
Home to one of the world's oldest democracies, the Basques include approximately 3 million people living in a region about the size of Rhode Island nestled between France and Spain.
Kiley Easley made it a point to bring her family to this year's picnic. A third generation Basque, her grandparents immigrated from their native homeland.
Growing up in a Basque household, Easley picked up the language by listening to her parents and grandparents, who spoke the language frequently. While she can easily speak Basque, she admits that she can't read it.
"It's a big difference reading and speaking Basque," she said.
Her mother, Debra South, became the first generation of Basques in her family to be born in the United States. She remembers hearing her parents describe how their culture was oppressed in their own homeland.
At the time, they were prohibited from even speaking in their native language.
While things have changed over time, South feels that it's very important to speak what she called the "pure Basque language." It's a dialect that doesn't include Spanish or French words that are sometimes inserted into various phrases.
It's a sentiment that Easley shares. She emphasized that it was "tremendously important" for her to pass the language, customs and heritage of the Basque people to her own children.
"That's a reason why the Basque picnic is so important," she said. "It's instilled in me, and it's instilled in my daughter."
"It's because we're a proud culture," South added.
People showcased that pride in a number of ways. Easley's daughter, Amaia, wore a T-shirt with the phrase "arkume txikia." In one of the many Basque dialects, this translates to "little lamb."
Other aspects of the Basque culture were a little more subtle. In a stone garden next to the hotel were small sets of stones stacked on top of one another. The art form is known as Harri Mutillack, or "stone boy."
According to Urquidi, sheep herders would create these stone columns in their fields and would occasionally talk to them to help pass the time.
This year's festival featured a traditional ethnic feast, which included lamb, rice and red beans. During the afternoon, people had the option of ordering meal items a la carte versus buying the entire plate.
In the past, people wanted to order the dinner, but some would decide against it because they didn't want the lamb or something else on the menu, Urquidi said.
During the evening, people also sampled cuisine like chorizo -- a deep-fried sausage. According to Goisalde Jausoro, organizers ordered 150 pounds of the ethnic treat specifically for the picnic and expected to sell out by the end of the evening.
"Everybody always wants chorizos. They're always good," said Cole Garrett.
As a way to pass along the Basque culture to their children, organizers hosted a series of games for these youngsters. The younger ones dashed back and forth during a series of races while others bounced to the finish line in the sack race.
"We dominated the games at their age, and they're keeping it going," said Gib Wheeler regarding his grand nieces, Brooke and Darla Berriochoa, who won two of the children's races that afternoon.
Both children traveled with their parents from their home in Utah specifically to be a part of this year's picnic.
After the initial contests, boys and girls then vied for dominance in a tug-of-war. During the third, winner-take-all event, the older girls were joined by Ashton Easley, who at 2 1/2 years old simply wanted to be a part of the fun.
Meanwhile, older contestants put their pride on the line during the Txinga, or Basque weight carrying, competition. Geared for teens and adults, the strongman event required contestants to haul sets of weights over a preset course with scores based on how far people could tote this weight before dropping them.
Ronnie Perryman was reluctant about getting involved in the contest. As an adult, it would've meant having to haul two sets of hand weights totalling 220 pounds.
"Man, that's some weight," Perryman said. "I weigh 170 pounds. There's no way I'm going to be able to pick up 220. Not gonna do it."
But that didn't stop people like Mitch Aguirre from wanting to take home some prize money. The teen hauled 150 pounds of combined weight over a distance of 338 feet before he lost his grip on the one in his left hand, which then crashed onto the ground.
In between rounds during the strongman event, the younger boys and girls grabbed onto the individual 55- and 75-pound weights. Only a handful of children were able to even get those "lighter" weights off the ground.
The love of the Basque culture took center stage Saturday evening during a performance by the Oinkari Dantza Taldea. The Boise-based dance group helped people relive many of the Basque traditions from their native homeland.
The dance team includes 55 active members, although those numbers drop a little once the school-age members return to school each fall, said Marie Monasterio, who was voted in as the president of the dance group earlier that day.
Being part of the dance team is a family tradition for Monasterio, who followed in her brother's footsteps. In addition to learning these ethnic dances, it gave her a chance to learn more about her family's culture over the past eight years, she said.
Their performance in Mountain Home comes just weeks after members of the team returned to the United States after visiting the Basque homeland.
"It was very inspirational to visit the cities mentioned in the dances we perform," she said.
Monasterio and others in the group remain committed to preserving and sharing the form of the Basque culture with others.
"I couldn't leave. We do it because we love it," she added said.
During the group's performance, some children in the audience wanted to join in on these ethnic dances.
Anes Urrutikoetxea tried to match the moves of the male dancers as they kicked their legs high into the air. The six year old found it was a lot harder than it looked.
On the other side of the dance stage, Amaia Tochum watched as the women dancers performed the Matelota, or fish dance. The four year old watched the women perform while trying to imitate their moves.
To a point, it gave both children and others like them a small taste of the Basque traditions that have continued to pass from one generation to the next.