To say that anticipation for the 2025 edition of Jaialdi is twice as great year ... well, that's not an overstatement. The fact that they skipped Jaialdi 2024 (for good reason) has something to do with it.
Meaning “big festival” in Euskaria, Jaialdi dates back to 1987. Try not to confuse Jaialdi with the annual San Inazio festival — Jaialdi is significantly bigger, attracting tens of thousands of people including invited guests from around the world.
While San Inazio is a weekend of fun in Boise’s Basque Block each summer, Jaialdi’s footprint is so much bigger (this year it stretches from Expo Idaho to St. John’s Cathedral, to the Basque Block to Idaho Central Arena). Also because of its size, it’s held every five years. But there hasn’t been one in Boise since 2015.
“So, we were so excited for Jaialdi back in 2020, like people around the world had been excited for their 2020 events. We, of course, postponed it, because of the COVID pandemic,” said Lael Uberuaga, third-generation Basque and marketing and media chair for Jaialdi. “We thought naively that we could postpone it to become Jaialdi 2021. And then, we were going to postpone it again. Finally, the organizers said, ‘Let’s just reconvene when it’s going to be safe to gather … in 2025. So, it has been ten years now.”
There’s a T-shirt that reads, “Jaialdi is a marathon, not a sprint,” that vendors have sold during previous events. This year, things get underway Tuesday, July 29 with what attendees call “Basque-ing on the block,” which is to say Boise’s Basque Block between Capitol Boulevard and 6th Street.
And things really ramp up with Sports Night inside Idaho Central Arena on Thursday, July 31. At the heart of Sports Night is the Basque rural sporting tradition dubbed “Herri Kirolak.” And this year’s competition in Boise will see “harrijasotzaieak” (weightlifters) lifting cylinders 250-400 pounds and stone balls weighing 350 pounds. There will also be “aizkoariak” (wood choppers) and other super strong athletes throwing hay bales, lifting wagons and hoisting anvils.
“You will be hard-pressed to see anything like this outside of Jaialdi,” said Uberuaga. “And the tickets for Sports Night are going really fast, so if you miss Sports Night, you can see the athletes at the ‘Basque-ing at Expo Idaho’ location on Saturday and Sunday.”
Uberuaga visited with Morning Edition host George Prentice to offer an early preview of what will likely be the biggest event on Boise’s calendar this year.
Find reporter George Prentice @georgepren
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