Find Your Folklife – Jackquelyn Urain

I’m Basque on my dad’s side…

…and my mom is Irish, German, everything but Basque. They were mainly cattle ranchers in Humboldt and Churchill Counties. On her side, I’m a fifth-generation Nevadan. But she made sure we were part of the Basque community in Winnemucca. My siblings and I, as soon as we were old enough, joined the beginning dance group and we’ve been dancing ever since.

As for being Basque in Winnemucca… everybody considers each other family. You see each other on the street and wave, especially during the Basque Festival.  It’s an opportunity for us to get together and have other people come in and experience our culture. I enjoy going home for the festival. I get to see everybody and to dance with them all again. I have not missed one yet, and I don’t plan to.

Showing my Basque culture is like having a superpower. I go to work all year long in business attire or scrubs, but then there’s this weekend in June when I get to put on my Basque clothes and dance, dance, dance!

—Jackquelyn Urain, Euskaldunak Danak Bat, Winnemucca