Basques in Boise

"Everybody wants to be Basque in Boise during Jaialdi," was what many people said last week in the capital city of Idaho. ''Jaialdi'', a Basque word for ''party time'', is an international Basque cultural festival that attracts thousands of attendees from all over the world.

Boise''s Basque-American community, one of the largest of its kind outside the Basque Country, celebrate their heritage on the day of their patron saint ''Inazio'' every year. Every five years, however, they do it in a special way: Cue Jaialdi.

For almost a week, Basque rural sports, pelota tournaments, dances, bertsolaris, conferences, food, drink, music and lovely weather accompany the red, green and white crowds that fill an area of the city known as the ''Basque Block'' and the Expo Idaho Fairgrounds at the weekend.

This year, however, these were not the only places where Jaialdi was present. We also had Twitter, the social network and microblogging service. #Jaialdi2010, the official hashtag for the festival, probably did not receive as many tweets as Lindsay Logan, Chelsea Clinton or Inception, Leonardo DiCaprio''s latest movie, but was certainly a trendy topic among the Boise Twitter community.

Photos, news articles, official information, schedules and funny stories about the festival: everything you could ever want or need to know about the festival in #Jaialdi2010''s many hundreds of tweets.

''Basque restaurant Leku Ona has run out of bottled beer''; ''a sold out crowd due at the Morrison Center for Festa''ra''; ''check out the best photos from Jaialdi by Basque-American photojournalist Jon Hodgson @BasquePhotos''; Dan Ansotegui of Amuma Says No at Bar Gernika''; and ''Find out what time the Basque Market is next serving paella,'' were just some of the helpful tweets from this year''s Festival.

For hundreds of people, including journalists covering Jaialdi, twitter has proved an invaluable source of information. "For me, personally, it was amazing because it was a way to keep updated with what was happening at Jaialdi. Twitter was the way I got all my breaking new information first; not Google search, not email, but Twitter," says Robert Lopez of @EuskalKazeta, a website that offers news for the global Basque community.

For @EuskalKazeta, just one year old, this has been its first Jaialdi. For others like @ladufurrena, not of Basque heritage but married to a Basque-American, it is their second or third Jaialdi. "I love being a part of this rich culture! The food and drink, and the wonderful community. Also, Basques are great at preserving and honoring their heritage through dance, games, and storytelling. Overall, Jaialdi plays host to high spirits and enjoyment for all!" she says.

@Scott_ Nicholson, not of Basque heritage either but very fond of Basque culture, has been living in Boise since 2001 but missed the 2005 Jaialdi. His favorite aspect of Basque culture is the importance of family: "It''s nice to have a concentrated event like Jaialdi to see so many events," he says, adding that he also took part in Pamplona''s Running of the Bulls in 2009, something else he had always wanted to do.

"The Basques are to Boise what the Irish are to Boston, the Italians to New York and the Polish to Chicago. It is truly unique in America for a city the size of Boise to be diverse and yet have a great culture standout the way the Basque culture does here," says Dave Green, @thenorthend, who is not Basque, but has been around Basque people his entire life.

"Social media, Twitter, Facebook. I think it has changed the whole dynamic of the pre-convention and pre-festival conversation because we were able to talk to each other daily, and that conversation became more intense as Jaialdi approached. We were able to share information, write articles... But the real interesting thing is that we were sharing our interest in the Basque community globally," @EuskalKazeta says.

"I guess Twitter also wanted to be Basque during Jaialdi," says @Katxorro.