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Bemidji's Sankta Lucia Festival to Celebrate 50 Years of Swedish Revelry
The festival honors Swedish heritage with a Pippi Longstocking tribute, Swedish candy traditions, and a commemorative ornament for guests, celebrating a half-century of cultural ritual.
- On Saturday, Dec. 13, Bemidji will hold the 50th Sankta Lucia Festival at Calvary Lutheran Church with Clare Fogelson as Lucia.
- Organizers trace the festival's start to 1976 when Monica O'Boyle and Edna Kroll founded the Bemidji Sankta Lucia Festival and built local programming through community classes, while Patrick Lochwood joined as a youth dancer and later chaired the event.
- This year's program includes an 80th-anniversary Pippi Longstocking tribute, Candy Day treats like Swedish fish and Pippi coins, and a commemorative ornament for guests.
- The event draws attendees from across the region and sustains cultural rituals for families, with past festivals involving Becky Haskell's five granddaughters and attracting 400 people.
- Organizers say the 50th will include special moments that reflect on the past and future, urging attendees to honor Lucia's charitable example by `be part of the solution`.
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Sankta Lucia Festival to celebrate 50 years of Swedish revelry
BEMIDJI — The Sankta Lucia Festival has always been a special holiday event in Bemidji, drawing attendees from near and far. For many families of Swedish lineage, it’s a meaningful December ritual. And this year’s 50th annual festival, to be held at 6 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 13, will take on even more meaning for some of the revelers. “Here's our chance to look back 50 years and then look forward to the next 50,” said Michelle Dahlby, who chaired…
The Halsakoret, Pisters and the children's choir Stjernebarna invite you to a Christmas concert at Stornaustet on Saturday, December 13th at 4 pm – on Lucia Day itself.
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Total News Sources16
Leaning Left0Leaning Right8Center3Last UpdatedBias Distribution73% Right
Bias Distribution
- 73% of the sources lean Right
73% Right
C 27%
R 73%
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