Between late April and mid-May, three towns in Gipuzkoa took cider out onto the streets with their Sagardo Egunak (Cider Days): Errenteria on 26 April, Irun on 10 May and Usurbil on Sunday the 18th.

Errenteria: rain moves the first txotx

Errenteria’s 37th edition had planned its first txotx (the ritual opening of the cider cask) for 12:00 in the Plaza de los Fueros and the second, at 18:00, on the Alameda (Zumardia). The programme included a kupela (cask) drawn by oxen through the streets of the town, roast veal with the Eusko Label quality mark, talo (maize flatbread) stalls and entertainment from dulzaina players, trikitixa accordionists, txistu players, dancers, txalaparta players and bertsolaris (improvising verse singers).

The showers meant the midday txotx also had to move to the Alameda. By twelve o’clock, hundreds of locals and visitors were already filling the promenade. This year’s two honourees, Angel Utxa and Gurenda Erkizia, were there; at the launch, the organisers had wanted to thank them for their work: Utxa, for bringing the gastronomic societies together around the festival; Erkizia, for quiet work without which, they said, Sagardo Eguna would be nothing.

Irun: back to Plaza Urdanibia

Irun went without its Sagardo Eguna in 2024. To bring it back, the NGO Taupadak, Betti Gotti Elkartea and Antxeta Irratia joined forces and called the festival for Saturday 10 May, from 18:00, in Plaza Urdanibia. Jokin Melida, of Taupadak, presented it as one of the oldest in the Basque Country, and the organisers stuck to the traditional format.

The organisers announced 2,710 litres of cider and around 3,600 bottles from ten cider houses, nine from Gipuzkoa plus Linddurrenborda, from Lesaka in Navarre: Ola, Ordo-Zelai, Egiluze, Alorrenea, Gurutzeta, Petritegi, Altuna, Larregain and Rufino. Four of them would bring portable casks for txotx; at the other stalls, cider would be served by the bottle. The 10-euro ticket included the glass, a pintxo and ten pours, and the town’s gastronomic societies were preparing around 3,000 chorizo and salt cod omelette pintxos. This year no scarves were handed out: people were asked to bring their own.

Usurbil: new organisers

After a 2024 in which the festival’s future was in doubt, there was a changeover in Sagardo Egunaren Lagunak, the group that organises it, and the 42nd edition arrived with renewed energy. 39 stalls were set up between the fronton (pelota court) and the Askatasuna and Dema squares. Local cider carried real weight: nine farmhouses and eight cider houses from the municipality. These were Aginaga and Urdaira, in Aginaga; Aialde Berri, Arratzain, Saizar Txapelgorri and Saizar, in Usurbil; and Araeta and Astiazaran, in Zubieta. They were joined by producers from other towns in Gipuzkoa, from Aia and Astigarraga to Tolosa and Urnieta.

With sunshine and pleasant temperatures, the festival drew a big crowd. It was opened before midday by Aitor Bautista and Eider Goikoetxea on behalf of Ziortza Gazte Elkartea and Zumarte Musika Eskola, two local associations that are turning 40. In the afternoon, the electro brass band Elektrotxorongo paraded through the streets.

Sources

  • El Diario Vasco, Martin Sansinenea: “Giro onenaz beteko da Errenteria Sagardo Egunaren XXXVII. jaiarekin hilaren 26an”, 15 April 2025. Read in the Sagardoetxea press archive. Errenteria’s programme and the tribute to Utxa and Erkizia.
  • El Diario Vasco, Borja Luna: “Reencuentros y sonrisas en el Sagardo Eguna a pesar de la lluvia”, 26 April 2025. Read in the Sagardoetxea press archive. Move to the Alameda because of the rain and the atmosphere at the first txotx.
  • El Diario Vasco, Xabier de la Linde: “El Sagardo Eguna retoma su cita en Mosku”, 30 April 2025. Read in the Sagardoetxea press archive. Irun’s organisers, cider houses, litres, bottles, ticket and pintxos.
  • Onda Vasca, Ania M. Seisdedos: “Sagardo Eguna bueltan da Irunen”, 30 April 2025. Read in the Sagardoetxea press archive. Confirms the list of cider houses, the casks and Irun’s format.
  • Noticias de Gipuzkoa, Aitziber Muga: “Usurbil Sagardo Eguna indarberrituta dator”, 16 May 2025. Changeover in the organisation, venues, and Usurbil’s cider houses and farmhouses.
  • El Diario Vasco, A. Urbieta: “Sagardoa eta udako giro eguzkitsua, ezkontza perfektua”, 18 May 2025. Read in the Sagardoetxea press archive. Report from Usurbil: 39 stalls, guest producers, weather and opening.