Velkommen to Junction City

A man and his alphorn — a Swiss instrument. Photo Courtesy of Scandinavian Cultural Foundation

Grab your Sverigedräkten and your bunads, because the annual Junction City Scandinavian Festival is coming back this weekend. When the I-5 was built in 1961, Junction City was passed over by many people who would have otherwise traveled south through Oregon down Highway 99. In order to bring tourism back to Junction City, the Scandinavian festival was born. As the town was once a hub for Scandinavian settlers to build their culture and raise their families, the festival honors Junction City’s rich Scandinavian history, and the late nineteenth-century time when the first Scandinavian settlers arrived. For those attending the festival, “It’s like being transported into a period piece on TV,” says Rebecca MacDonald, chairperson of publicity and marketing for the Scandinavian Cultural Foundation. All of the staff, fixtures, entertainment and almost 100 vendors seek to be accurate for the time period. MacDonald says when you’re at the festival, between the visual aesthetics and the vintage music, “You walk down the street and you’re in old-town Scandinavia from the 1800s.” The festival is very immersive, and offers many features for those familiar with the culture, and those who know nothing about it. With each day’s entertainment themed after a different Scandinavian country, she says, “You will see lots of dancing, hear traditional music, learn Scandinavian languages, watch demonstrations.” Quite importantly, she says, “if you like to eat, you’ll like to be out here,” with authentic food options, including æbleskiver, which is “somewhere between a waffle and a pancake, but spherical,” and tippaleipä, or Finnish funnel cake. In terms of hand-crafted and imported art, goods and gifts, MacDonald says this is your chance to get early Christmas presents, because, “you’re not going to see anything like this anywhere else.”

The Junction City Scandinavian Festival is 10 am through 9 pm Thursday, August 14, through Saturday, August 16, and 10 am through 8 pm Sunday, August 17, at 195 West 5th Avenue in Junction City. Free. For more information visit JunctionCityScandia.org.

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