The Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County and Nordic Culture Clubs are excited to announce the 42nd annual Scandinavian Hjemkomst Festival and Midwest Viking Festival, which will return to the Hjemkomst Center on Friday, June 21, and Saturday, June 22.
The festival is offered each summer to promote local history in a fun way and highlight the prominent Nordic heritage of the Red River Valley. In this effort, the Hjemkomst Center and Viking Ship Park are filled with hundreds of vendors, artists, musicians, historians, chefs, and demonstrators – including dozens of Viking sword fighters – all showcasing the people, food, music, stories, and ideas that crossed the Atlantic from Iceland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sápmi.
Inside the Hjemkomst Center visitors will find the Nordic Marketplace, where they can shop for Nordic imports, sample Nordic foods, and enjoy performances ranging from saga storytellers to Lego Artists and Hardanger fiddlers. Performances and demonstrations will be held throughout both days of the festival in Viking Ship Park, the Hopperstad Stave Church, Heritage Hall, Heritage Theater, the Hjemkomst atrium, and the auditorium.
The auditorium will also double as “Tastes of Scandinavia,” where visitors can indulge in both new and traditional Nordic foods, including lefse, lutefisk, lingonberries, vinaterta, aebelskiver, rømmegrøt, and søt suppe. As Denmark is the featured country at this year’s festival, the local Red River Danes will also be serving snacks and drinks at the Troll Bar near the Hjemkomst Center atrium.
Outside in Viking Ship Park, HCSCC hosts the Viking Village, where visitors can enjoy many of the same attractions, but with a focus on the Viking Age. This includes the popular Viking battle and game demonstrations staged outside every two hours. The Hopperstad Stave Church will be filled with performances and both HammerHeart Brewing and Big Lost Meadery will serve their drinks in the Viking Beer Garden.
Many of the festival’s favorite demonstrators return in 2019, but they’re joined by Danish newcomers Niels Fulgyr (Viking locksmith), Jacob Børsting (blacksmith), Linnea Bang-Madsen (tablet weaver), Jeppe Garly (blacksmith), and UK-based Viking storyteller Adrian Spendlow.
If You Go
42nd annual Scandinavian Hjemkomst Festival and Midwest Viking Festival
Friday, June 21, and Saturday, June 22
Hjemkomst Center, 202 1st Ave N, Moorhead, MN 56560
Festival admission is $15 per day for adults, $10 per day for seniors (55+) and teens, and FREE for children and HCSCC members (who bring their membership card).
Overflow parking is available at American Crystal Sugar and the Moorhead Center Mall. LinkFM will offer free shuttle service between the mall and the Hjemkomst Center.
For more information, please contact HCSCC Communications Manager Davin Wait at davin.wait@hcsmuseum.org or (218) 299-5511, ext. 6733
