There is a lot of Scandinavian Heritage here in North Dakota. This park is in Minot. We stopped by the visitor center on Friday and found out about this festival.
We had a nice picnic meal. It was well attended with lots of tables and benches to sit and enjoy the events.
There was a flag raising ceremony for each of the Nordic countries - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. the countries National anthem was played by the Minot Community Band.
This Stave Church is a full size replica of the original Gol Stavekirke in Gol, Norway. A Stave Church was the earliest of the Christian Churches that were built in Norway, about 1200 AD. There are only about 25 left as they looked originally.
There are 12 support pillars that represent the twelve Apostles. The church is put together without any nails.
During the festival you could sit in the hot sauna. I sat in it before they lit the stove.
The Dala Horse is the national symbol of Sweden. It is 27 feet tall and 24 feet long.
The log house from Vatnas in the Sigdal area of Norway was built about 1771 and lived in until the late 1930's. It was near a farm where Eric Ramstad was raised. He is considered the father of Minot. It was taken apart and shipped to Boston and then trucked to Minot in 1991. Three Norwegian carpenters came to Minot and reconstructed the house. It was open for us to go into during the festival.
The Stabbur or storage house, was built in Telemark, Norway disassembled and rebuilt in Minot in 1990.
This lady is making Swedish krumkaga, sort of like an Italian pizzelle wrapped around a cone.
A sweet waffle served with fruit. We enjoyed them both.
It was fun learning about the Scandinavian culture and seeing how they are trying to keep their heritage alive.
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