Scandy Fest time is near

Every year this past decade, I've attended the Junction City Scandinavian Festival (Junction City is about fifteen minutes away from where I live). This weekend brings us another year of the festival, and I'm excited as usual to attend.

It began in the 1960s for two purposes: as a community celebration of Junction City's Danish heritage, and as a way to boost the local economy, which was on hard times after the opening of the Interstate 5. Over the past forty years, it grew into the festival it is today with two stages of dancing, food and craft booths everywhere you look, and many local traditions that festival attendees anticipate with glee. Amazingly, it is still a free festival, making it a great value in the face of the local County Fair, where you have to pay for the pleasure of paying for more things.

What can you do there? You can start by watching the local dance groups do their thing. There are several Scandinavian dance groups that participate, including Senior groups and groups from the local middle and high schools.



You can also sample all the delicious food treats. For many, including myself, the food is the biggest highlight of the festival. There are Scandinavian treats of all sorts, including lefse, aebleskivers (pancake spheres), Swedish pancakes with lingonberry jam, meatballs, meat pies, and fri-jos (fried pastries). You can also sample other types of food including sausages, salmon on a stick, and many different flavors of ice cream.

Here's a look at the line for the aebleskivers:



You can also admire the Scandinavian-themed art, much of which exists on the buildings in and around downtown Junction City:



Music is piped in through speakers around the downtown streets. Unfortunately, most of it is the hokey singer-with-accordion variety. Scandinavian music is much more than that, trust me. Not all music from that region includes accordion. Crafts made by local artisans are available for view and sale all over the festival, and all festival sellers, food and craft, are required to wear Scandinavian-themed costumes. The costumes are relics of an older time in Scandinavia, but still neat to look at.

For me, the Scandinavian Festival is all about tradition. You can expect to see much of the same foods, booths, and dance groups year after year. There are always small changes and additions each year, but frequent festival visitors know very well what to expect when they come. That is both good and bad. Yes, it's true that seeing the same booths in the same places, selling the same things year after year can get stale; but, you see, it's also comforting to know that, in an ever-changing world, the Scandinavian Festival offers familiar sights and sounds. I go every year because it's a tradition for me and it's heartwarming to know that, should I want a piece of lefse or a basket of aebleskivers, or to see the art exhibits, I know exactly where to go. The Scandinavian Festival is a tradition unto itself, and those of us who love it wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm sure I'll be able to go again this year, and I'll certainly have my camera with me. I'll try to get photos of the booths and costumes, and I'll also take more dancing photos. I'll report my experience after I attend!

To see more of my Scandinavian Festival photos, go here.