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La Puente, USA. The picnic will last the whole day, starting with a mass in English and Basque celebrated at 10:30am by Rev. Fr. Javier Altuna SJ, a native of the Basque town of Azpeitia, in Gipuzkoa. Altuna has been living and working in the area for more than forty years.

At noon there will be a lunch based on steak, followed by an exhibition of Basque dances by three dance groups from the Chino Basque Club, being the Gauden Bat’s performance the last one of the day. At six o’clock the dinner will be served – 17 lambs barbequed by the Club members. “We bought the lambs and the Labrucherie family raised them, as they’ve been doing for the last six years or so,” recalled Aguerre.

Once the dinner will be done Jean Flesher Band will make everybody dance with their Basque-American classics, until midnight.

As usual, there will also be a mus tournament with cash prizes, starting right after the mass. Each player will have to pay $20 to participate and all the money gathered will be given to the winning couple. “Last year we had 20 teams playing,” said Aguerre.

The Southern California Basque Club counts up to 60 members “and we all are active,” explained Aguerre. “Some work as cooks, some as servers or in the bar… Everybody does something.” Most of them live in the Chino area nowadays, not in La Puente, as they used to, that’s why “many are members of both the Southern California and the Chino Club.”

Even though the official picnic will be on the 6^th, the day before the organizing team will work hard for everything to be ready for Sunday. “On Saturday we’ll cook the lambs and on Sunday we’ll work. We have our own picnic the day before,” stated Aguerre. “It’s fun, I love this weekend,” he says.

The three main events the Southern California Basque Club takes part in are the Memorial Mus Tournament, in January; july's picnic; and helping with food the Demolition Derby, celebrated in Chino. There usually are around 5,000 people and the food they prepare is, mostly, hamburgers, hot dogs, and lukainka and txorizo sandwiches, adding with their presence a Basque touch to the event.