The Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival features 3 days of some some of the best entertainment of the year! Singers, musicians, and dances from around the globe come to Astoria to celebrate our Scandinavian heritage! Below are some details about each of the exciting performers that await you at the 2018 Scanfest!

Performances:

6 PM, Friday, June 15 - Arena
10:45 AM, Saturday, June 16 - Arena
3:30 PM, Saturday, June 16 - Arena
5:30 PM, Saturday, June 16 - Arena
10:00 AM, Sunday, June 17 - Arena
12:45 PM, Sunday, June 17 - Arena

Featured Entertainers from Scandinavia, Kristoffer Kleiveland and Maria Skjeldrum Toppe

The Kleiveland Toppe Duo is known for their humorous interaction and contagiously fun mood as well as their culturally unique folk music from Norway.

Kristoffer Kleiveland on button accordion is familiar to Astoria Scandinavian Festival audiences having appeared here in 2014 with Sindre Fotland. He plays his musical, danceable tunes on a small button accordion and has won first place at accordion championships in Norway several times.

Maria Skjeldrum Toppe plays the traditional Norwegian Hardanger fiddle. She focuses on the folk music from Western Norway and plays lyrical pieces as well as dance music. Recently she received a grant to document the Hardanger fiddle music in the areas around Bergen, Norway.

Both Kleiveland and Toppe are well-rooted in their instruments and in the folk tradition. They find their distinctive character in the music of North Hordaland and Western Norway which they convey with great empathy along with stories from the old days, personal experiences, and impulsive improvisation.

Learn more about The Kleiveland Toppe Duo. Click here.

Performances:

5 P.M., Friday, June 15- Arena
12:45 PM, Saturday, June 16- Arena
2:30 PM, Saturday, June 16- Arena
4:30 PM, Saturday, June 16- Arena
11 AM, Sunday, June 17- Arena
1:45 PM, Sunday, June 17- Arena

Featuring Sara Pajunen on violin and voice, and Sunniva Brynnel on accordion and voice

With deep roots in the Swedish and Finnish folk music traditions, this new duo performs both traditional music from the two countries as well as their original music. Both members have toured internationally for many years and when they met at the New England Conservatory, Boston, an instant musical kinship was discovered.

The violin and accordion – sometimes playing like one voice, at other times complementing each other in sympathetic, melodious and playful ways. With singing in Finnish, Swedish and English, the duo brings to the stage their musical backgrounds and passions.

Learn more about Sara Pajunen (Click here) and Sunniva Brynnel (Click here)

Saturday, June 16, Clatsop County Fairgrounds:

5 PM - ARRIVAL/DREAMS tickets allow entry to festival grounds - vendors, full meals, beer garden
7 PM - doors to arena open for open seating
7:30 PM - DREAMS, Canada’s Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
8:15 PM - Intermission, Scandinavian joke contest
8:45 PM - ARRIVAL, Canada’s Tribute to ABBA
9:30 PM - Public dance included with ticket

Tributes to ABBA and FLEETWOOD MAC

By popular demand, ARRIVAL, Canada’s tribute to ABBA, will return to the 2018 Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival along with DREAMS, Canada’s Fleetwood Mac Tribute Band. ARRIVAL performed their ABBA show to a large and enthusiastic audience at last year’s 50th anniversary festival and people who saw the show and people who missed the show have requested that we bring this group back. There will be one performance only at 7 PM on Saturday, June 16, 2018, at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. DREAMS will perform Fleetwood Mac favorites from 7 to 7:45 PM. During the half-hour break for costume changes, there will be a Scandinavian joke telling contest. Bring your best jokes and audition at 6 PM if you’d like to be included. ARRIVAL will perform their ABBA tribute from 8:15 to 9 PM and a public dance with Coreen Bergholm’s Scandinavian Country Band will follow in the exhibit hall. 

Admission to the ARRIVAL/DREAMS concert includes admission to the festival after 5 PM. Shopping, snacks, a Viking dinner, and beverages will be available and the beer garden will be open before and after the show. The arena where most of the retail booths are located will close at 6:30 PM. Everyone with a ticket will be readmitted at 7 PM to find a seat near the main stage.

Don’t miss this experience to enjoy classic feel-good tunes from an outstanding tribute band. Bring your friends and enjoy a summer evening you’ll talk about for years. Reserved seats in the first five rows cost $37. The remaining reserved seats on the floor cost $27. Tickets for the general seating area in the bleachers cost $17. There are also some general admission floor seats for handicapped.  Pre-sale tickets will be $2 cheaper starting March 8.  Visit the the Liberty Theater box office at 1203 Commercial in Astoria through 5 PM on Thursday, June 14 or go to their website to order tickets online.

Buy your tickets at the Liberty Theatre box office or online. Click here.

Performances:

1 PM, Saturday, June 16 - beer garden
3 PM, Saturday, June 16 - beer garden
5 PM, Saturday, June 16 - beer garden

Now in its 33nd season, SHANGHAIED IN ASTORIA, is part-vaudeville, part-soap opera, and part 1950’s style Hollywood musical, all combined into a fun and entertaining look at traditional local cultural folklore, including immigrant cannery workers from Scandinavia. What originated as a celebration of Astoria tradition has become a tradition itself and you don’t want to miss it! Catch Shanghaied cast members performing their olio acts in the beer garden at festival on Saturday.

Learn more about the Astor Street Opry Company. Click here.

Performances:

7:30-9:30 AM, Saturday, June 16 - dining area in exhibit hall
12 noon, Saturday, June 16 - Midsummer Pole
7:30-9:30 AM, Sunday, June 17 - dining area in exhibit hall

From an energetic rollicking Finnish Humppa to an elegant Swedish Hambo, the Folk Voice band performs them all. Home is Seattle but Folk Voice can easily find its way to Astoria for the Midsummer Festival. Birgit Ages is on accordion and Philip Ages plays mandolin and recorder providing authentic Scandinavian and International folk tunes for listening and dancing.

Learn more about the Folk Voice Band. Click here.

Performances:

11:45 AM, Saturday, June 16 - arena
1:45 PM, Saturday, June 16 - exhibit hall

Leikarringen likes to perform outdoors if the weather is nice. Look for them in front of the main entrance on Saturday

“Leikarringen” means circle or round dance. The priority of this group is the preservation of Nordic culture. LEIKARRINGEN OF PORTLAND is open to youths ages 4 and up.  New dancers begin each year while some have danced for fifteen years or more. This long dance tradition is rich with tunes and steps from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and even Estonia. Dances are generally fast-paced and a recent addition to Leikarringen has been their own group of musicians who perform on traditional instruments. LEIKARRINGEN is led by Christie Stilson and Darcy Andrews and is sponsored by the Daughters of Norway and Norske Runddansere.

Learn more about the Leikarringen of Portland. Click here.

Performances:

7 PM, Friday, June 15 at Queen’s Coronation
10 AM, Saturday, June 16 - arena
1 PM, Saturday, June 16 - exhibit hall
4 PM, Saturday, June 16 - exhibit hall
12 noon,  Sunday, June 17 - arena
2:45 PM, Sunday, June 17 - arena

Astoria’s own dance group includes dancers from second grade to adults. The NORDIC DANCERS are the youngest group and several members are performing at their first midsummer festival. Experienced teen-age dancers make up the VIKING DANCERS but several fathers also participate . This group is always open to new members! Parents of dancers and former dancers and adults interested in Scandinavian folk dancing form the SCANDIA DANCERS. The Nordic Viking Dancers are led by Kevin Ladd and Bev Hoofnagle.

Learn more about the Nordic Viking Dancers. Click here.

Performances:

8-10:30 PM, Friday, June 15 - Queen’s Ball in the exhibit hall
9-11 PM, Saturday, June 16 - Scandinavian Ball in the exhibit hall

Returning for the Queen’s Ball on Friday evening after the Coronation will be local favorite Coreen Bergholm and her band, Scandinavian Country. Coreen learned to play accordion in an immigrant community in North Dakota and now spends winters performing around Yuma, Arizona, where she met Ken, the tuba and trombone player. This is the band that plays the local favorite dances like the Varsouvienne, the Butterfly and the Irish Waltz as well as polkas, schottisches, waltzes, and hambos. They even play the Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey!

Learn more about Coreen Bergholm. Click here.

Performances:

2 PM, Saturday, June 16 - Beer Garden
4 PM, Saturday, June 16 - Geer Garden

Coreen Bergholm learned to play accordion in an immigrant community in North Dakota and now spends winters performing around Yuma, Arizona, where she met Ken Presthus, tuba and trombone player. This duo is back after an absence last year and we know you will enjoy their music and shenanigans in the beer garden.

Learn more about Coreen Bergholm. Click here.

Performances:

12 noon, Saturday, June 16 - dancing at the Midsummer Pole on the front lawn
1:45 PM, Saturday, June 16 - arena
3:30 PM, Saturday, June 16 - exhibit hall

The littlest dancers at the festival come from Portland and will perform at the festival on Saturday. This group of Swedish dancers is led by Christine Smith. Catch them leading the dancing around the Midsummer Pole and performing in the arena.

Learn more about the Vasa Youth Group Swedish Dancers. Click here.

Encampment Open:

10 AM - 6 PM, Saturday, June 16 - outdoors
10 AM - 4 PM, Sunday, June 16 - outdoors

Demonstrations:

1 PM, Saturday, June 16 - outdoors
2 PM, Saturday, June 16 - outdoors
3 PM, Saturday, June 16 - outdoors
12 Noon, Sunday, June 17 - outdoors
1 PM, Sunday, June 17 - outdoors
2 PM, Sunday, June 17 - outdoors

Viking Encampment

The EMPIRE OF CHIVALRY AND STEEL specializes in the recreation of the culture of the Middle Ages, including the art forms, events (feasts, tournaments, ceremonies and wars), and combat arts from that period. The purpose of this nonprofit educational corporation is to study (and teach the general public) ideals and history from 800 AD to 1650 AD within the geographical boundaries of Europe and to provide an organized effort in the collection, interpretations and distribution of historical data through publication and demonstration.  Empire of Chivalry and Steel participants will open their Viking Encampment to the public on Saturday and Sunday and provide demonstrations of Viking sword fighting and amour making on both Saturday and Sunday  afternoon.

Learn more about the Empire of Chivalry and Steel. Click here.