Newcombe contacted the city to see if there was any interest. ![]() Publicity about the event brought Plaza Urrutia to the attention of Newcombe and sparked the effort to have it designated a historical property. Over roasted lamb and red jug wine, they decided more gatherings should be held there. Her gathering last fall brought out around 100 Basques, including many from the Front Range and a handful of professional pelota players from California. ![]() She decided then she would organize a Basque event there to highlight what she viewed as a jewel for Colorado Basques. ![]() She and her husband were driving from California to Denver in 2021 when they stopped to get gas and spotted the distinctive traditional curved top of the fronton front wall. Petracek was one of those who noticed it. Road improvement projects have nipped off pieces of the park close to the fronton since then, but Plaza Urrutia still stands out in a modern park where it remains a popular site for outdoor handball players, as well as a point of curiosity for drivers passing by on their way to the Mesa Mall commercial area from Interstate 70. In 1999, following a heated meeting, the city backed down and decided to save the fronton that the city had been using at that time to store manure. The city, missing the cultural significance of the edifice, offered to build new handball courts in another part of the park. Where the fronton stood, plans called for 138 parking spaces. The park was laid out to include soccer fields, baseball diamonds, tennis courts and playgrounds. The three-sided concrete court fell into disrepair. Pelota is the Basque version of handball, played with a cork ball that is so hard it can bruise hands and dent walls.Īfter Jean died in 1983, pelota play at the plaza tapered off. Plaza Urrutia became the site for weddings, birthdays, holidays, lamb roasts and friendly pelota games as well as fierce competitions. Their farmhouse and Jean’s blacksmith shop sat near the fronton that Jean built to be a gathering place for his fellow Basques who missed the handball games they had played in the Pyrenees. Jean and his wife, Benerita, had a farm on what is now part of Canyon View Park. The fronton was built in the 1970s by Jean Urruty, a sheepherder turned businessman and a patriarch of the western Colorado Basque community. “It is in a much better place than it was 30 years ago now that it is integrated into a city park.” Fronton was built for Basques who missed home She said Grand Junction is lucky because if the fronton had been on private land, it likely would have been demolished. Ironically, the city that planned to destroy the fronton played a key part in the past year to earn the fronton’s new historic designation.Ĭity planner Kristen Ashbeck worked with National and State Register Historian Eric Newcombe and the Basque community to move a designation application through the process. (Photo provided by Joaquin Garcia, Colorado Euskal Etxea)ġ2:33 PM MDT on 6:18 PM MDT on Oct 20, 2023 They played in Plaza Urrutia, which survived a massive urban redevelopment along the river even though official games had not been played there for decades. 24, 2022, pitted the Basque team of Tony Huerta, center, and Oier Pastor Alonso, right, in blue, and the Mexico team of Francisco Mancilla, left, and Marcos Medina in red. Indicates that a Newsmaker/Newsmakers was/were physically present to report the article from some/all of the location(s) it concerns.Īs a news piece, this article cites verifiable, third-party sources which have all been thoroughly fact-checked and deemed credible by the Newsroom in accordance with the Civil Constitution.Ī demonstration match of the Basque national sport, pelota, in Grand Junction, Colorado, on Sept. This includes directly interviewing sources and research / analysis of primary source documents. This article contains new, firsthand information uncovered by its reporter(s). ![]()
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