Become a Vendor with the Junction City Scandinavian Festival
Want to vend with the Junction City Scandinavian Festival? It…
Your contribution makes a difference. It’s not just about the fancy pin that you’ll get with your Membership purchase, though that is a really good reason. Your support helps to fund the St. Lucia Scholarship that is awarded each year to an area high school senior. It funds projects like our recent Sound Shack replacement after it was burned and badly damaged. It helped when Festival Hall needed a new roof. And it helps support the next Scandinavian Festival so it can operate as usual.
The Scandinavian Festival Association (SFA) operates as a not-for-profit 501(c)(4) and the Scandinavian Cultural Foundation (SCF) operates as a 501(c)(3) non-profit. There are many rules and regulations for this, but one of the perks is donations are tax deductible.
The Festival is not a business. It makes just enough money to pay the bills and put on the next year’s event. The amount of visitation and the size of the Festival could easily be misconstrued as a “money maker” but in reality it’s just enough to make the tradition of having an event of this size carry on. The Festival Board Association is made up of volunteers. That means the entire Festival is put on, managed, and orchestrated by community members who have made a commitment to serve and make this event happen.
We are incredibly thankful to have been able to have 60 amazing Festivals over the years. It’s because of our community that we have been able to continue as we have. In years past, especially in the early years the Scandinavian Festival was more of a collaboration. More families, business, organizations, clubs, etc. lent a helping hand to make the Festival work and function well. The last few years it has been a small handful of families gathering together and doing the work of what a chunk of the town use to do. We understand that not everyone desires to spend their spare time setting up booths, managing budgets, building websites, fundraising, really the list is endless, but we do believe that our community still loves the Festival and wants it to go on.
Please consider becoming a member of the Scandinavian Festival and help us continue to celebrate our town’s cultural roots. Each time someone signs up for a Membership, it is as if one more team member has chosen to stand behind us, cheering us on. Though, what we desire more than membership, is collaboration like the “old days” where volunteers from churches, groups, and people of the community find unity and work together to bless our town.
Many businesses benefit from the crowds drawn in by the Festival, friends reunite during this time and catch up. It is like a holiday for Junction City, but one that could slip away from us if we don’t foster it well.
For more information on how the Scandinavian Festival was started and the reasons why it was created, please read the history page. Want to get involved? We would love to have you join the team of volunteers! Please read the volunteer page and reach out to us via the contact page.
