Svensk Hyllningsfest

This is the last of three posts on Lindsborg, KS; this one covers Svensk Hyllningsfest, 2005 on October 8. Svensk Hyllningsfest is a Swedish heritage festival held every two years.

As with any ethnic festival, suitable attire is fun.


The Lindsborg Swedish Folk Dancers, a very dedicated group of high school students, was a main attraction of the festival.


Costumes are part of the show.


Each summer, the group does at least one out-of-town performance and every four years, they go to Sweden.




The members usually apply to join the group in 6th grade, and are asked to make a commitment to the group until high school graduation.


In this dance, the one man has the rest of the dancers - all women - reach through their legs to hold the hand of the dancers in front and behind.


I think he likes this.


This one involved one man at a time getting shoved out of the circle.


Competition among the men, often involving shoving and mock-fighting, was part of some of other dances, also. I had no idea folk dancing could be so violent.


This one was kind of Three Stoogey.










Spontaneous playfulness is more fun to see than an organized event.




A nice little moment in the random observation of the human family.


There were two craft tents which featured wares from all sorts of artists. Here, wood turner Melody Hall explains her techniques to a small group of costumed children.


Ever the yule-junkie, Ace contemplates the richness of the wood in some of Hall's ornaments.


A couple of local businesses rented these for getting about town. I think they were called quadrocycles or quadcycles.




Hey, I found a way to sneak a moving train into this entry. Its only N-guage, not that you could tell at a glance.


The train was on a layout brought by the MacTrax Model Railroad Club of McPherson to the old depot at The McPherson County Old Mill Park.


"Night of the Lepus", Swedish-style. Only true bad sci-fi film afficianados will get that.


Jan Turner, wife of Lindsborg photographer Jim Turner, was kind enough to show her traditional costume, parts of which belonged to her husband's grandmother. My thanks to the Turners for offering the use of their very appropriate backdrop.


Ace has a thing for artistic women, so he made the acquaintance of local artist Lee Becker, who was holding down the fort at The Small World Gallery on Main Street.



Becker decorated two of the fiberglass Dala horses displayed in Lindsborg. This is one of them; it is called Dalahippus Lindsborgensis. Being a paleontology buff, I was particularly attracted to it.


Ester Jaderborg, co-owner of Swedish Crafts, filled us in on Lindsborg history as well as the history of Dala horses. One of the concerns residents have is whether Lindsborg will keep its Swedish flavor as the "old Swedes" pass away.


We stopped into The Cookery for a traditional meal. I can't say I'm a fan of the pickled herring, but it was one of those things you try in order to immerse yourself in the feel of a culture. I've never had Swedish meatballs in a more appropriate place, and they were delicious.


The street dance started at 9PM. I had imagined something involving costumes but thats not the way it was. Oh well, I suppose if you've been wearing less-than-comfy attire all day for the festival, you really wanna let your hair down at night.


Most of the pics on this blog since July 30 have been taken with a relatively cheap point and shoot digital with some manual over-rides, but I hadn't tried slow shutter speed plus flash with this camera yet.


Of course, straight flash is good too. I'm still getting the hang of the delay on this camera. Being a dyed in the wool 35mm photographer, I am not used to digital delay and figured the dance would be good practice.








We might be back in Lindsborg on October 29. President Mikhail Gorbachev, former leader of the Soviet Union, will be there to help kick off the year long Chess for Peace initiative. Not bad for a town of 3,200, huh?

There'll be a chess parade, a scholastic chess tournament, a match between former World Chess Champions Susan Polgar and Anatoly Karpov, and a keynote address by President Gorbachev at Bethany College. Hmm...a photo of one of the architects of the end of the cold war with Ace Jackalope...ya think?