Local
Entertainment

Homemade and handcrafted treasures are in abundance at the Scandinavian Festival. The festive scents will make your mouth water and the unique traditional crafts will make for a great keepsake, or gifts. Come visit and fill your day with great food, crafts, folklore, trolls and lots of dancing! Interested in being part of the show? Please contact the Director of Programming below.

Kid's
Entertainment

There are many fun activities for kids to see and do at the Scandinavian Festival. The newest addition is the Tomte Scavenger Hunt. There are 3 red, 3 green, 3 blue and 1 yellow tomtes hidden throughout the Festival grounds. The Windmill often has clues if one of the tricky guys may be hiding too well.

There are also other activities such as: kids dance for watching and a session for kids to come up and learn dances, photos with Trolls, photo opportunities, photo scavenger hunt, storytelling, crafts and cooking demos, pageant (a kid friendly play), photos with Vikings and more. For young children, there is an area where they can run and get energy out while in a safe, fenced space.

Vikings!

Vikings may not be historically accurate to the time period we celebrate (c. 1840-1910) but you can’t hear the word “Scandinavia” without thinking of Vikings. Vikings have been a part of the Junction City Scandinavian Festival since the beginning, which makes them an iconic part of the event. Kids can become Vikings too! Stick around just before the pageant and you too can become a Viking!

Come Dance
with Us!

The Festival has multiple dance groups from the local area, some of which even practice year-round. The kids dance groups practice in the summer and there are multiple age groups.

Pageant & Community
Dance

Every evening a pageant, which is a short play, is performed at the main stage right after closing ceremonies. Interested in acting in our pageant? Send us a message. Following pageant there will be Community Dance. It goes on well into the night and is great fun for all ages. Anyone can participate, no need to bring a partner, wear a costume, or have experience!

Play Video

Scandia Singers

Music had always played a big part of the Scandinavian Festival, and the Scandia Singers is one of the few original groups still performing. One of the first directors of the group was Gay Blankenship, who led the group for many years. Currently Dale LeFon is director and has been doing so for over 15 years. They participate in the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, during the evening pageant, as well as daily performances.

JC Polka band

The Junction City Polka Band was formed in 1982 and has only had a few directors since forming. Dean Huston has been a part of this group for 40 years, as both musician and director. The current director is Gail Goshert, who also plays in the band. In the early years they would practice once a week but after learning the music they perform without needing formal practices! This group performs daily for hour long performances.

Visiting Entertainment

The Scandinavian Festival has been fortunate to be able to host groups from outside of Junction City, out of state, and even from other countries! While our local groups mostly perform Scandinavian folk dances, we love to invite other traditional, cultural folk performance groups to the Festival. Each year we invite performers from other areas to participate in the Scandinavian Festival. We have hosted: German dance groups from the West Coast, Ukrainian dance groups from Canada, a folk dance group from Estonia and traditional Scandinavian folk dancers from Norway (they even had their own musicians!), just to name a few. Each year is different, so come celebrate with us at the next Scandinavian Festival.

Hosting an event?

Our space can be rented for all sorts of events and gatherings. The venue has a large kitchen and open event room that serves a medium to large crowd. It's great for holiday events, work parties, teas and luncheons.

Local Entertainment

Kid's Entertainment