Good Templar Park Hosts Traditional Scandinavian Midsummer Fest

GENEVA, IL — Illinois’s oldest and longest running ethnic festival Svenskarnas Dag (Swedish Day) gets going this Sunday, June 16, at Good Templar Park, 528 East Side Drive, Geneva. This gem of a midsommar fest runs from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and features authentic Swedish cuisine, maypole dancing, cottage tours, a replica Viking ship and encampment, music, games, Nordic crafts and, get ready, the ABBA tribute band Dancing Queen.

Admission to Good Templar Svenskarnas Dag is $7 for ages 13 and up, free for children 12 and under, active military (with ID) and those who show in traditional Scandinavian costume.
Icelandic horses, Viking reenactors, children’s crafts and activities, the raising of maypole, Swedish cuisine bakery and vendor midway will be featured throughout the day. Friends and families are also invited to spread out for their own reunions and picnics as they commune with nature.

Friends of the Viking Ship will also be offering tours of an exact replica of the Viking ships that sailed the Atlantic Ocean 500 years before Christopher Columbus allegedly discovered America. The replica ship followed the same route of the Vikings into Chicago in 1893 for the Columbian Exposition to prove that it was possible. Come meet Viking expert, author and original Viking artifact collector David Mullaly at the ship. A separate admission for the docent-led tours is $7 for adults 18+, $4 teens (age 13-17); and free for children under 12. Cash and credit cards accepted.

In addition to this being the 113th Svenskarnas Dag, Good Templar Park is marking its centennial year, when the International Order of Good Templars purchased 33 acres of property along the Fox River in 1924 for a Swedish summer settlement. The historic park is populated by charming summer cottages built in the 1920s and 1930s and is home to the replica Viking Ship that sailed the Atlantic Ocean to the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

The IOGT's first Svenskarnas Dag (Swedish Day) picnic was held in Evanston in 1911. The annual picnic attracted thousands from Chicago’s Swedish immigrant community. Looking for a place where they could hold an alcohol-free midsommer festival, the mostly Swedish members of IOGT, a temperance-focused fraternal organization formed in the 19th century to combat the high rate of alcoholism in industrialized Europe. The first Svenskarnas Dag celebrated at Good Templar Park was in 1925.

Keep up with Swedish Day happenings on the Good Templar Park Facebook Page.

Activities for Svenskarnas Dag, June 16:

9 a.m. - Gates open. Children’s activities, Scandinavian crafters and goods, Blue the Icelandic horse, bouncy house, food ticket booth all day.
9:30 a.m. - Kaffe Stuga and baked goods (almond tarts, sliced Swedish coffee bread, coffee and Swedish pancakes.
9:30 a.m. - Viking encampment opens.
10 a.m. - Children's games (all day), worship service at main stage with musical accompaniment by the Holmstad Covenant Senior Living Voice Choir.
IOGT museum opens (free).
10 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. - Viking ship tours, every 15-20 minutes, hosted by Friends of the Viking Ship. Adults 18 and over, $7; children ages 13 to 17, $5; children 12 and under free. Last docent-led tour at 3:30 p.m.
10 a.m. - Swedish dinner (meatballs, cold plate combo, fried herring and sampler), Sloppy Joe (“Yoes”), and hot dogs.
10:30 a.m. - Small group cottage tours until 3:30 p.m. Donations gratefully accepted.
11 a.m. - Bill Robinson & Friends (Bill Robinson, on hammered dulcimer; Mike Gleeson on fiddle; Sue Gleason on bass and Greg Ferdson, guitar).
11:45 a.m. - Maypole Raising and traditional Swedish dances.
12:30 p.m. - Presentation of Colors and U.S. National Anthem and Swedish National Anthem
12:45 p.m. - Swedish American Children’s Choir
1:30 p.m. - Nordic Folk Dancers
2:15 p.m. - Viking Reenactors
3 p.m. - Dancing Queen - ABBA Salute
4:30 p.m. - Grounds closed,.

Good Templar Park's Svenskarnas Dag (Swedish Day) celebration is a separate event from Geneva's Swedish Days.