Smithsonian Folklife Festival Kicks Off This Week

The annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival kicked off Wednesday, June 29, with an opening ceremony of traditional Basque music.

Festival organizers chose the Spanish region of Basque, in the northeast corner of the country, and California to celebrate.

Max Walker, 21, explained where exactly Basque is located.

“Basque lies between Spain and France, in the Pyrenees mountain range separating the two,” said Walker who was working in the Festival’s Marketplace, which featured wine, hand-crafted jewelry, pottery, textiles, as well as books and music CDs representing the featured nations.

The festival, located on the National Mall, is laid out with different booths and activities, including arts and crafts as well games and sports. This year their were many music booths featuring Basque music and the sounds of Latino USA, California. There will be Basque American Stories at the Euskaldunak Dialogues stage and Mixteco Fiesta Traditions, located at the Sounds of California stage and plaza.

A food station at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Photo by Yarah Swan-Sullivan.
A food station at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. Photo by Yarah Swan-Sullivan.

Food booths served dishes from Basque culture as well as California. One in specific was a Guillermo’s Artisanal Gelato booth serving traditional Basque Gelato. Also at the festival is Rollo’s Tacos, serving tacos and burritos of California’s Latino roots.

Featured at the festival was an area for the traditional Basque game Fronton. There was a Fronton team present demonstrating how the game works. Fronton or Frontis, is a game played with a ball that is hit against a wall with one’s hand.

The festival will run until July 4 and then kick off again July 7 through July 10. Festival hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with special events taking place at 6:30 p.m. most nights.