Nordicfest returns to Libby

The 31st annual Nordicfest in Libby was held this weekend Sept. 11-13. The theme of the event was “Be Our Guest.”

The community-wide celebration that celebrates the area’s Scandinavian heritage was billed a success by Nordicfest board member, Pamela Peppenger.

“We had the largest crowd we’ve had in a long time Friday evening,” she said. “It was fun to see that many people here for the event. We were pleased with the crowd considering there was a football game at the high school and the Troy Centennial Celebration. We were all pleased with the crowd we had Friday.”

The food booths opened up at 11 a.m. on Friday and Nordicfest officially started with the Bunad parade at noon.

The highlight of Friday’s events was the Runnerfell Race for children at the elementary school. There were 138 children that took part in the event. There were 10 different age groups from three year olds to 12 year olds.

The quilt show started Friday, at noon at Asa Wood School. The Nordicfest quilt show featured 2015 Kootenai Valley Quilt Guild quilter of the year, Jill Petrusha.

One of Petrusha’s quilts was raffled off on Sunday when the quilt show came to a close.

Petrusha has been quilting since 1994 and has enjoyed the people she’s met while quilting.

“I get lost with my sewing,” she said. “I’ve taken a lot of classes on sewing and have met a lot of great people. I got hooked on it. I enjoy the friendships I’ve been able to form through quilting. I’ve met so many friendly and talented people through my experiences.”

The second day of Nordicfest started with the Knights of Columbus breakfast outside the Memorial Center.

The Nordicfest parade started at 11 a.m. and lasted just under an hour. There were a wide variety of attractions in the parade. There were fire engines, classic cars, horses, floats and the Whitefish Winter Carnival float.

Peppenger said the Nordicfest parade always draws a huge crowd and this year was no different.

“We had a large crowd show up for the parade,” she said. “The parade is always the main attraction for Nordicfest. It was fun to see people lined up on Mineral Avenue to watch the parade.”

After the parade the crowd flocked to the Memorial Center to enjoy good food and musical entertainment.

“We had a lot of people in the Memorial Center for the arts and crafts,” Peppenger said. “The lines for the food booths were long and we had a lot of good musical entertainment. It was a busy day, but it was a good day.”

Saturday’s festivities came to a close with the Kootenai Karacters Melodrama, Treachery in Timbertown performed at the K.W. Maki Theatre.

“It was a good performance,” Peppenger said. “It was a hometown-written melodrama. The audience was engaged at they did a great job.”