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Less than 150 miles south of Vancouver, Canada −where many of the British Columbia Basque Club’s members live−, the Seattle Euskal Etxea is the last club of the US before crossing the north-western border. Seattle Euskal Etxea organized their summer picnic on Saturday, September 12, in Lake Sammamish, WA. “It was a nice lunch for the families and we had good weather,” said Fran Michelena, president, in conversation to EuskalKultura.com.

Seattle, WA. The Rotunda Shelter, in Lake Sammamish, in Seattle, was the meeting point for around 60 Basques from all around Washington that gathered to have their annual summer picnic, a few days before summer is oficially gone in September 21st. “It was a nice lunch for the families and we enjoyed a good weather,” Michelena told this bulletin; and speaking about the weather is not trivial in Washington state, since last year it poured with rain.

Txorizo, BBQed lamb, card games… attendants had a good time but, most importantly, they had the opportunity to see each other, since not everybody lives close by. “Most of us are from the Seattle area, but half of the members, more or less, are from Yakima,” which is two hours and a half south-east, explained he.

Naming the Club

Since its inception in 1997, “a long list of members” have been part of the Euskal Etxea, as Michelena said. But nowadays, there are around 80 active, quite evenly divided between Seattle and Yakima. In fact there was a time where there were two different clubs in the state, one in Seattle and other one inland, but the second one closed its doors and many of its members became part of the Seattle one. “Two years ago we thought of changing our name to Washington Basque Club, because people are from all over the state, but we didn’t do it in the end, probably not to mix it up with (the Club from Washington) DC,” indicated Michelena.

Activities and plans

Michelena and the rest of the members would like to pick up with the Euskara classes, something in which NABO is also interested, “but it’s not easy to find a teacher that speaks Batua in Seattle,”  but they would “warmly welcome one” in the words of the representative. Besides being a “small Club,” in his own words, they have two main gatherings during the year: the spring and the summer picnics. And also some “successful” cooking classes. “The last one was a Paella cooking class and soon, even though we haven’t set it up yet, we want to do a txorizo making class.”

Michelena now volunteers as the president of the Euskal Etxea, and before he was the treasurer. The rest of the members of the Board are: Martin Parish (vice-president), Gaizka Mallea (treasurer), Marylou Michelena (director), and Constance Uribe (director).