Michael Alexander, Chancellor | University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Michael Alexander, Chancellor | University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Green Bay, WI — On October 4 and 5, UW-Green Bay will host the Midwest’s largest Viking festival on its Viking House grounds near Wood Hall. This marks the third year of the event at UW-Green Bay. The festival runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is free to attend, and open to the public.
More than sixty Vikings will set up a camp to demonstrate various skills including blacksmithing, silversmithing, wood carving and turning, textile arts, glass bead making, cooking, storytelling, singing, and battle reenactments. The festival includes activities for children such as a Viking Quest and kubb. New events this year include demonstrations by rune and flute making expert Kari Tauring.
The festival celebrates Scandinavian history and culture with nearly 3,000 attendees annually. It aims to educate on daily life in Scandinavia from a thousand years ago. “Our festival is based on archeology, dispelling some of the stereotypes that you find in the modern media,” said Professor Heidi Sherman, director of the Viking House and organizer of the Midwest Viking Festival.
Thousands in the Upper Midwest have Scandinavian ancestry due to immigration in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Prof. Sherman emphasized its broader importance: “We don’t want to forget that we came from somewhere else,” she said. “It is a great way to see how history can be really exciting.”
Members of the media are welcome to attend.
About UW-Green Bay
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay serves 10,300 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students as well as 85,000 continuing education learners annually across four campuses in Northeast Wisconsin. Offering over 200 academic degrees and programs since opening in 1965.
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