Jaialdi 2010, an international Basque cultural festival that takes place every five years in Boise, Idaho, reached its end on Sunday after six days of celebrations that drew thousand of attendees from all over the world.

For almost a week, Basque rural sports, pelota tournaments, dances, bertsolaris, conferences, food, drink, music and lovely weather accompanied the red, green and white crowds that filled the ‘Basque Block’, downtown Boise, and the Expo Idaho Fairgrounds at the weekend.

"Everybody wants to be Basque in Boise during the Jaialdi," many say in town. The festival does not just concern the Basque community, the whole community of Boise gets involved. "It has become an important city event. Certainly for the Basque community, but as time has gone on the broader community has become more aware of it and has embraced it to a certain extent," says Mayor of Boise Dave Bieter".

The festival has been a great success, according to Jaialdi director Dave Eiguren. “I would say that it exceeded all our expectations by four. Very smooth,” Dave says.

Director of the Basque Museum and Cultural Center, Patty Miller, who during the festival received the Lagun Onari Award for the museum’s contribution to Basque history and culture, is of the same opinion as Eiguren: "It''s been a great success. Wonderful crowds. The Boise Basque community really set up for this program and all the activities have been first class, so I think the people that came had a good experience," Patty Miller says.

Nancy Zubiri, Euskal Kazeta editor, also agrees. "As a journalist, because I have been covering the Basque community in the United States for a long time, I think this has been one of the biggest Jaialdis. This could only happen in Boise because it has that concentration of Basques to do that", she says.

"As an enjoyer of Basque culture, this was a great party for the Basque people and I think everybody enjoyed it very much," Nancy adds.

Many people that came from the Basque Country to Jaialdi for the first time could not believe their eyes when they arrived in Boise. Some others, like Imanol and Ander Zabaleta, known in the city as the ‘Zabaleta Brothers’ had already been in Boise a year previously and knew what they were going to find.

"We were expecting something like this. It is worthy. You come here and feel you are in the Basque Country, really comfortable, Basque flags everywhere, Basque music, it is like being home," one of the brothers says.

For Boiseans, it is the end of many months of hard work but it is also a sad day. "I am kind of sad. It is every five years and it is already wrapping up. You meet friends that you have not seen for ever and they are getting ready to leave," says Izar Iribarren-Gorrindo, one half of the US-Basque design team Ahizpak.

See you back in 2015, Jaialdi. Gero Arte.