JUDD WEIL
Hutch Post
LINDSBORG, Kan. — Celebrate a Swedish tradition in the heartland in Lindsborg with the annual and traditional Midsummer’s Festival on June 17.
“In Sweden, they celebrate the longest day of the year, which is considered the summer solstice,” Geneva Hay, Lindsborg Midsummer's Festival president, said. “Basically, it's the Swedish festival that is celebrated worldwide. It welcomes the arrival of the summer solstice, and with this, Lindsborg is considered to be ‘Little Sweden.’ We've got a lot of Swedish heritage, that’s kind of what our town revolves around, and so we take a lot of those different events and celebrations and things along that line, and we incorporate them into our community here.”
This event is held on the Third Saturday in June.
“With the Midsummer's Festival, we designed it to be very fun-filled and a day for the entire family. It ranges anywhere from fun runs in the morning to kubb tournaments. We have those type of events, we bring in dancers from different locations that come in, we have a couple groups of Vikings that come in from out-of-state that do Viking reenactments because we are a very Viking-centric location,” Hay said. “We bring those groups in and we highlight a lot of our different talents, a lot of our different musical talent, craft talents, food demonstration talent, anything that we can in that festive setup.”
There are two sets of Swedish folk dancers. One troupe is made up of high school freshmen through seniors. The other is an adult dance troupe. Both troupes are very rooted in Swedish tradition.
According to Hay, the Midsummer’s Festival piggybacks off another event held in October, Svensk Hyllningsfest. Svensk Hyllningsfest is held every other year.
“This is just strictly a one-day thing that we do, but the festival itself is free,” Hay said. “There are some activities that you can be a part of that do charge, but to get into the festival, to be able to look at the demonstrations, to be able to watch the entertainment, embark in all of the different activities, the kids activities, things like that, there's no charge to it.”
The Midsummer’s Festival is slated to begin with a fun-run event at 8 a.m.
“From 8:30 to 10:30 at night, the finale of it all is a free swim that the city of Lindsborg, through our request, has opened, since it's all at the park next to the swimming pool,” Hay said. “We open it up so anybody that wants to cool off that day can go for a free swim for two hours.”
A complete list of events and schedule is at the Midsummer’s Festival website. Some events may be subject to alteration or cancellation depending on registration and attendance.
“This year we’ve actually got some neat, exciting things going on. We’re doing a stinky fish-eating contest, we’ve got a section in there where audience participation can come up and tell jokes,” Hay said. “Then in the evening, everything basically proceeds to another section that’s at the park, which is actually owned by our Old Mill Association, called Heritage Square, and that is where we kind of do our finalization of the dance. We raise our really large Midsummer’s pole at that time, that’s been decorated all beautifully, and they dance around to finish off the festivities.”
Celebration like the Midsummer’s Festival are more than just culturally significant to the people of Lindsborg and their Swedish heritage.
“The reason we do these festivals is because of our heritage. People look for those things, people come to this town, and they look for those unique things,” Hay said. “They look for the kindness, they look for the downhome root of the Swedish and the different things that go on.”
More information about the Midsummer's festival can be found on the event website and Facebook page.
CLICK HERE to download the Hutch Post mobile app.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily Hutch Post email news update.