For over five decades, California Lutheran University has hosted the Scandinavian Festival on its campus. The festival, which took place April 5 and 6, marked its 51st anniversary this year. It brings community members and families together to experience Nordic traditions, food, and entertainment.
According to the Scandinavian Festival website, the weekend-long event originated in 1974 when two professors with Scandinavian heritageโProfessor Armour Nelson and John Nordbergโsought to celebrate the universityโs Nordic connections as well as share their cultural traditions with the surrounding community. Per the festivalโs website, the idea sparked during a casual golf game near the college.
The first Scandinavian event hosted at Cal Lutheran in February 1974 drew in roughly 600 people to campus to partake in the festivities. Originally confined to the university gymnasium, the festival has since migrated to the other parts of the school grounds, now spanning the entirety of Kingsmen Park.
Janice Walsh, the festivalโs program director, having nearly thirty years of involvement in the event, has witnessed the transformation firsthand.
โI got involved almost 30 years ago on a very small scale, doing food demonstrations with my family,โ Walsh said. โIt used to be a very informal festival. It was put on back then by Cal Lutheran. The faculty and staff of Cal Lutheran put the festival on,โ Walsh said.
Walsh said that the event has grown a great deal since its inception.
โOver the years, itโs evolved from a very fun but smaller event. And over the years weโve added more food, more vendors, people who are interested in being part of it โฆ itโs just a big family event. Itโs a community event,โ Walsh said.
According to Walsh, the festival is now operated by the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation. Even still, it maintains its original home on the Cal Lutheran campus.
Ariana Nelson, one of this yearโs event coordinators, said the SACIF was established by the festivalโs founders as a nonprofit that โput on a bunch of other Scandinavian programming, but the festival is kind of its crown jewel.โ
According to Nelson, the organizational structure has evolved since its founding.
โItโs changed hands multiple times, and itโs kind of evolved into this staple where now we have event coordinators like myself and Genesis who are kind of carrying out that committeeโs vision,โ Nelson said, referencing another event coordinator working at and for the event.
What has stayed consistent is the festivalโs reliance on volunteers and community support, according to Walsh.
โWe couldnโt do it without a lot of volunteers, student volunteers, people from the community, people from the Scandinavian community, and other people who just love the festival. So itโs very volunteer-driven. Weโre a nonprofit. A number of the food vendors are also nonprofits,โ Walsh said.
The festival allowed attendees to experience authentic Scandinavian food, culture, and traditions. There were several demonstrations and vendors throughout the festival showcasing and sharing these traditions.
Rachel Ronning Lindgren, senior director of Alumni, Family, and Community Relations at Cal Lutheran, spent her time at the event demonstrating traditional Scandinavian dishes with her family.
โMy family has been coming to the Scandinavian days for decades,โ Lindgreen said. โMy dad helps lead the demonstration tent for food demonstrations โฆ he speaks to the crowd and basically teaches them what weโre doing.โ
Lindgren and her daughters participate in making traditional foods like โKrumkake and Lefse and Ebliskevers,โ perpetuating a tradition that spans generations.
Lindgrenโs daughter, Solveig Ronning Lindgren, shared that she loves spending time with her grandparents, sharing traditions, and handing out the food they make to the attendees of the festival.
โ[The Scandinavian Festival is] an opportunity to share the Scandinavian heritage that helped found Cal Lutheran,โ Lindgren said. โThe land was donated by Richard Pederson and itโs a real treasure to have it here.โ
