Scandinavian Folk Festival
Northwest Arena - Downtown Jamestown, NY
July 16 & 17th, 2022

Please check our performers section for more updates.

• Saturday
• $5
• All Day
• July 16th

• Sunday
• $5
• All Day
• July 17th

*Free Admission for children age 16 and younger.

COMING SOON

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Thank you for the Financial Support

This project is made possible with financial donations from many individuals and local organizations/businesses.  In particular we recognize the support from the Statewide Community Regrant program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by Arts Services Inc. and the Tri-County Arts Council.

Festival Food Court

The Scandinavian Folk Festival is presenting an array of Scandinavian Foods in one location in the Scandinavian Food Court.

Scandinavian food will be served by  3Cs catering offering a variety of traditional dishes.  The Beer/Wine wagon and the Kaffe Stuga will also return. This will be a great place to gather with family and friends.

3Cs Food Truck

3Cs catering service will provide the traditional food this year. 

The menu includes a variety plate, Swedish meatballs, rice pudding, rotomos, yellow pea soup, brown beans and some non Swedish favorites.

Beer & Wine Wagon

Enjoy Danish Carlsberg Beer or some local favorites or a selection of wines.

Kaffe Stuga

Ice Cream with strawberries is always good on a warm Summer day! Take a fika (coffee break) with a homemade "goodie."

 
Other Food Vendors

2022 PERFORMERS

SmörgåsBandet

SmörgåsBandet is a Smörgåsbord of music, with deep Scandinavian roots that they celebrate through their instruments and a lifetime of experiences. Together as a band for over 20 years, their Nordic knowledge and expertise results in a broad spectrum of genres including folk music, gammaldans, pop, evergreens, country and rock ‘n roll. They love to interact with the audience, so get ready to sing and dance along. Jeanne Eriksson, MC, is the daughter of the late maestro Walter Eriksson and plays accordion, keyboard and teaches dance. Her son is the percussionist and Social media PR expert, and Wayne Söderlund is their modern day maestro making sounds with his electronic Roland accordion that sets them far apart from your “farfar’s” gammaldans orchestra. Wayne’s son Johnny Söderlund plays guitar, banjo & drums on special occasions. They’ve performed overseas in Sweden and Åland, and have appeared at countless festivals, conventions, concert halls, restaurants and celebrations from New York to California and numerous States in between. They love what they do and do what they love and their enthusiasm is contagious. Welcome back to Jamestown, SmörgåsBandet!  

Svenska Spelmän

Our own local Swedish Band, Svenska Spelmän, has performed at all 18 Scandinavian Folk Festivals. All members are from Chautauqua and Warren Counties. Kathy Petersen plays the fiddle and nyckelharppa, Cheryl Ritch performs on the fiddle, Thomas Gestwicki on the guitar/banjo, Timm Reasbeck on the bass and Donald Sandy on the accordion.  They focus on the traditional music of Scandinavia such as the waltz, polka, schottis, ganglot, and hambo.  Their selections provide music both for enjoyable listening as well as dancing.  This band is also the music for the Thule Adult and Children's Folk Dance Teams.  They have performed in the Swedish embassy in Washington, DC and for the King and Queen of Sweden.

Thule Lodge Adult and Children's Folk Dance Teams

The local Thule Lodge Vasa Order of America has two Swedish Folk Dance Teams - one with adults and one with children.  They have been part of our community for a number of generations. 

 

At this year’s Festival, the adult team will be performing.

 

The Adult Folk Dance Team toured Sweden in 2018 and worked with nine different folk dance teams to finesse their dancing skills.  The Children's Folk Dance Team danced with Sweden's Queen Sylvia when she last visited Jamestown.  The mission of both teams is to preserve the heritage of our Scandinavian Culture.

Both teams are always seeking new members so if interested let one of the dancers know.  The Children's Team is under the direction of Mary-AnnEva Ingrao and the instructor for the Adult team is Gerd Brigotta.  Both teams perform to the music of Svenska Spelmän.

 

Alyssa Rodriguez

Alyssa is one of the few and finest players of the nyckelharpa, the keyed fiddle, in New York State and has studied nyckelharpa at the Master’s level at Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Finland, where she won a Fulbright grant to research Nordic folk music and folk music improvisation. She has studied with several riksspellmän (master Swedish folk musicians), including Olov Johansson and Emilia Amper. Her music has been featured on WXXI and WRUR in Rochester, New York and she has appeared in Nordstjernan magazine and Nyckelharpan in Sweden. You can learn more at: https://alyssafiddle.com

 

Gary Kindberg

Jamestown’s very own Gary Kindberg, will be regaling the crowds with old familiar Swedish-American song favorites. You can sing along with Hälsa Dem Där Hemma and Tryggare Kan Ingen Vara (Children of the Heavenly Father) and a number of other popular tunes.

Bonnie Loch Fiddlers

And, this year, we will feature another popular local group, the Bonnie Loch Fiddlers. These musicians specialize in Celtic music, but those Vikings got around, and the traditional music of Scotland, Ireland and the Nordic countries are related. The Bonnie Loch players have a repertoire of Swedish tunes.

If you are interested in become a vendor with the Scandinavian Festival,
you can find the vendor application here.

Vendor Application
 

T.B.A.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS FOR THE FESTIVAL !!

If you would like to volunteer, please contact:

Don Sandy
716-665-0883
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