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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2017)
10 // COASTWEEKEND.COM ASTORIA SCANDINAVIAN MIDSUMMER FESTIVAL TURNS 50 CO-FOUNDER SHIRLEY TINNER REFLECTS ON FESTIVAL’S ORIGINS AND HALF A CENTURY OF HONORING HERITAGE By ERICK BENGEL FOR COAST WEEKEND Shirley Tinner, the honorary grand marshal at the 50th annual Astoria Scan- dinavian Midsummer Festival, has not missed a single festival since she helped found it half a century ago. A lifelong Astoria resident, Tinner has watched the event become the North Coast’s premier celebration of Astoria’s Scandinavian heritage — a salute to the Swedes, Finns, Danes, Norwegians and Icelanders who emigrated to the Colum- bia-Pacifi c region in the late 1800s and early 1900s, helped build the town and shape its industrious Old World character. This year’s festival takes place Friday through Sunday, June 16 through 18, at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. Visitors can feast on Scandinavian cui- sine, collect handcrafted items and enjoy musical performances by Scandinavian bands. For the 50th anniversary, a reunion of past Scandinavian princesses and queens, and festival dance groups, will take place Saturday afternoon. The entertainment centerpiece is Arrival, an ABBA tribute band from Canada, who will perform Saturday evening in the fairground arena. (The original ABBA hailed from Stock- holm, Sweden.) The founders The three-day gathering would not exist without a trio of women, including Tinner, who founded the festival as a fundraiser for their daughters’ Brown- ie troop-turned-Scandinavian folk -dancing group. Tinner, 80, is unable to walk in Saturday’s Optog Walking Parade, but her daughter, Kim Supple, will represent her, along with members of the original troop. and people who are interested in diverse “It’s an honor to have been asked to do cultures.” that,” Tinner said. Brownies to folk Tinner, whose father dancers was a Swede-Finn and In the mid-1960s, the mother a pure Finn, can Girl Scouts were orga- still speak the “Union- nizing an international town” Finnish she festival recognizing the learned as a girl. organization’s founder, The festival’s other with each troop represent- two founders, Carol Obie ing a country. The fi rst- and Nelly Norrman, can and second-graders of no longer tell the story of Astoria’s Brownie troop the event’s founding: Obie — a pre-Scouts ensemble passed away in 2009, and that included Supple — Norrman, who lives in took Norway. Sweden, is in her late 90s They memorized a and in poor health. “We’re O Norwegian song and extremely grateful to them SU BM ITT ED PH OT m fl yer for for starting this festival 50 An original progra n festival. dance, borrowed cos- via tumes from a vocal years ago,” Janet Bowler, the fi rst Scandina group and performed in the festival’s entertainment the old 4-H building (where the Astoria coordinator, said. “We hope Aquatic Center now stands) for Interna- these traditions will continue for future tional Scouting Day. generations of Astorians, Scandinavians COLIN MURPHEY/THE DAILY ASTORIAN Shirley Tinner, one of the founders of the Scandanavian Midsummer Festival in Astoria, shows off a photo of some of the original performers of an event that is celebrating its 50th anniver- sary.
