Swede Day Parade participants, dressed as Vikings, walk together down the parade route in June 2014 in Rochester.
Two Swede Day Parade participants, dressed as Vikings, enjoy the festivities of the 35th annual celebration in Rochester last year.
Traditionally dressed Swedish dancers spin each other around during the Swede Day Parade in Rochester in June 2014.
Swede Day royalty wave to the crowd during the Swede Day Parade in Rochester Saturday afternoon.
The grand marshals of the Swede Day Parade, Bill and Donna Zimmerman, wave to the crowd during the parade in Rochester Saturday afternoon.
Swede Day royalty dance around the Midsommer Pole in front of Swede Hall in Rochester during the 35th annual celebration last year.
ROCHESTER — Scandinavian Vikings riding on a makeshift ship and dancers in traditional Swedish clothing paraded down U.S. Highway 12 Saturday afternoon to celebrate the 35th annual Swede Day, honoring the Midsommar holiday and the summer solstice.
The Swede Day Parade route led the various floats to Swede Hall where dancers waltzed in a single-file line around the Midsommar Pole, paired off for more Swedish dances inside the hall and later sampled authentic meatballs.
The day-long event, sponsored by the Grand Mound Rochester Citizens’ Group, a south Thurston County nonprofit that manages Swede Hall throughout the year, also featured live music, TaekwonDo Karate demonstrations and carnival games.
Organizer Bill Liddle said the annual event allows residents to reconnect with the town’s Swedish Heritage. A Swedish Finnish Temperance Union formed in 1911 and opened the original Swede Hall in Independence Valley. The hall was rebuilt and opened in Rochester in 1939.
Today, Liddle said, nearly every volunteer has no Swedish heritage, but still find Swede Day important for the community.
“There are very few Swedish people in the area since us outsiders moved in,” Liddle said. “There is a strong group of people that want to see the tradition continue. It’s a means for the community to come together and enjoy one another.”
Rochester resident Tara Garcia-Munoz has fond memories of Swede Day with her twin daughters.
“I love it. It’s awesome. My girls were in the parade one year and they had to wear (the traditional) dresses. They didn’t like it because they are Tomboy types, but they looked so cute,” Garcia-Munoz said.
This year, Garcia-Munoz spent Swede Day selling crocheted items with her mother Nancy Richter to raise money for the Rochester High School Class of 2020, which her two daughters will be a part of in six years.
The senior class this year struggled to afford its senior trip and other activities, so Garcia-Munoz and her mother are starting the fundraising now.
“My mom is always planning ahead,” Garcia-Munoz said. “We don’t have long, only six or seven years.”
The event drew people from around the region, including Olympia author Paul Lundborg, who brought copies of his book “Death of a Dream,” about his Swedish ancestors.
Lundborg’s book details his family’s experience settling in Minnesota and their involvement in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862.
“When I started the book I got into my genealogy first,” Lundborg, who attended Swede Day for the first time on Saturday, said. “My great-great-grandparents left Sweden and settled in Minnesota.”
Prior to Swede Day, Rochester originally celebrated a Strawberry festival, Liddle said.
Once the Grand Mound Rochester Citizens Group bought Swede Hall in 1978, the Strawberry festival was replaced with Swede Day, to honor the town’s rich history.
“I propose that every community ought to have some kind of festival,” Liddle said.
