This year’s local celebration of Syttende Mai – the May 17 observance of Norwegian Constitution Day – will be a virtual event featuring a takeout dinner and a recorded presentation on Norwegian music.
Three local organizations — the Midwest Institute of Scandinavian Culture, Sons of Norway, and the Waldemar Ager Association – will once again join forces to sponsor the event.
The sale of tickets for the event ended on Sunday (May 9) and they are no longer available for purchase.
On May 17,, those who purchased tickets can pick up their dinners between 4 and 5 p.m. at the Holiday Inn South, 4751 Owen Ayres Ct. They will need to present their tickets or an email confirmation of their online ticket purchase to do this.
The meal will include Swedish meatballs, baked cod, boiled red potatoes, a vegetable medley, coleslaw, lefse and traditional Scandinavian cookies.
This year’s program will also include a presentation by UW-Eau Claire Prof. Emeritus Ivar Lunde, on “Bits and Pieces: Norwegian Music from 1814 to 2017.” Ticket holders will receive a recorded version of the program and will be able to “listen and watch all the way to the rousing end,” said Douglas Pearson, one of the program’s planners.
“If you have never attended a Syttende Mai event, you are invited to enjoy a traditional Scandinavian meal and be entertained by a musician who knows the evolving history of Norwegian music,” Pearson said in a press release.
“If you have attended this event in the past, you will find this year’s event familiar and strange at the same time,” he added. “We won’t have the fun of socializing, bidding in a silent auction and listening together to Prof. Lunde’s presentation. But you can enjoy the event at home with the good food and the program.”