Oinkari Basque Dancers

Cold white breaths rise slowly as they escape the smiles from the on looking crowd. It is a chilly 20 F in Hailey, ID but the sun is shining brightly and the sky is cloudless. The day couldn’t be more perfect. The mountains are lightly dusted with snow and majestically lord over the Wood River Valley in Central Idaho. Despite their beauty, they aren’t the focal point today. All eyes are on the dancers with the red dresses with black stripes, white pants and red txapalas: The Oinkari Basque dancers.

P.J. Mansisidor (former president of the Oinkari taldea.) lets out a shrill irrintzi. Its a call to arms. The yell causes a domino effect: Dan Ansotegi’s fingers push his accordion buttons, John Krakau puts his hand to his pandera and starts its rythmic vibrations and the dancer’s feet and arms kick and snap into action. It s blur of color and sounds as the Oinkaris sway and kick in unison in their opening dance, a jota. The girl’s red skirts twirl and the men’s bells keep time with John Krakau’s panderna. The audience loves it.

Proud shouts of ” Aupa Oinkariak!” can be heard from amongst the crowd….most likely from the old Amerikanuaks that make the annual trip to the festival each year. To them, the Oinkaris are more than a visual symbol of Basque culture in Idaho. The dancers represent the strength and resillience of a people gone far from home…dancing through each generation…still going strong.
The Trailing of the Sheep festival is an annual favorite trip for the Oinkaris. Beautiful scenary, fresh mountain air…it’s hard to hate Hailey, ID. The Oinkaris’ performances are a consistent crowd favorite. This year, the Oinkaris were housed in two fully furnished condominums courtesy of the Trailing of the Sheep Festival. In their down time between performances, they ate at a local resturant, Smokey Mountain Pizzeria and Pasta, where they enjoyed good food, drink and som live entertainment. Back at the condos, the Oinakris relaxed by playing and listening to music, and playing several varieties of card games.
The Trailing of the Sheep Festival was created to commemorate the history of the sheepherding Industry in Idaho and the immigrant cultures that made it a success. It is said that John Hailey brought the first sheep into the Wood River Valley in the late 1860’s. As the mines began to play out and produce less the sheep industry filled an increasingly large role in the local Wood River Valley economy. By the late 1800’s, there were a reported six hundred thousand sheep in Idaho. A famous 1905 newspaper photograph of a shearing plant in neighboring Picabo states that 95,000 sheep were sheared in a one week period! In 1918 the sheep population reached 2.65 million (almost six times the human population of Idaho).
Thousands of lambs were shipped by railroad through Bellevue, Hailey and Ketchum to markets around the west. As a major sheep center, Ketchum was second only to Sydney, Australia! The role of the Basques in the sheep industry was critical to its success. They began to arrive in the U.S. from their homeland in northern Spain in the mid-1850s. They came in response to the gold rush but soon they began migrating around the west finding jobs as sheepherders. Their hard work and dependability made it possible for the industry’s success. Many Basques stayed on in the U.S, often beginning their own sheep operations – the Cenarrusas, Etcheverrys, and Oxarangos among others. Today most Idaho herders are Peruvian and most Basque familes have moved on to other careers but the Basque’s work ethic and sucess is still considered the model for today’s sheep industry in the U.S.

The Trailing of the Sheep Festival celebrates a rich history in which Basques have played a critical role. It is fitting that the Oinkaris are such a vital and integral part of each year’s festivities.

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