Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 13, 2018)
3B THE DAILY ASTORIAN • WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2018 Festival Entertainment KRISTOFFER KLEIVELAND and MARIA SKJELDRUM TOPPE The Kleiveland Toppe Duo is known for their humorous interaction and contagiously fun mood, as well as their culturally unique folk music from Norway. musicians who perform on traditional instruments. Leikarringen is led by Christie Stilson and Darcy Andrews and is sponsored by the Daughters of Norway and Norske Runddansere. tuba and trombone player. This duo is back after an absence last year. We know you will enjoy their music and shenanigans in the beer garden. PERFORMANCES: 2 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – beer garden 11:45 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – Arena Kleiveland on button accordion is familiar to Festival audiences, having appeared here in 2014 with Sindre Fotland. He plays his musical, danceable tunes on a small button accordion and has won first place at accordion championships in Norway several times. 1 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – Exhibit Hall Toppe plays the traditional Norwe- gian Hardanger fiddle. She focuses on folk music from Western Norway and plays lyrical pieces as well as dance music. Recently, she received a grant to document the Hardanger fiddle music in the areas around Bergen, Norway. Astoria’s own dance group includes dancers ranging from second-grad- ers to adults. The Nordic Dancers are the youngest group, and several members are performing at their first Midsummer Festival. Experienced teenage dancers make up the Viking Dancers, but fathers also participate. This group is always open to new members! Parents of dancers and former dancers and adults interested in Scandinavian folk dancing form the Scandia Dancers. The Nordic Viking Dancers are led by Kevin Ladd and Bev Hoofnagle. Both Kleiveland and Toppe are well-rooted in the folk tradition. They find their distinctive character in the music of North Hordaland and Western Norway, which they convey with great empathy along with stories from the old days, personal experi- ences and improvisation. PERFORMANCES IN THE ARENA: 6 p.m., Friday, June 15 10:45 a.m., Saturday, June 16 3:30 p.m., Saturday, June 16 5:30 p.m., Saturday, June 16 10 a.m., Sunday, June 17 12:45 p.m., Sunday, June 17 PAJUNEN/BRYNNEL – Swedish/ Finnish American Sara Pajunen – violin and voice Sunniva Brynnel – accordion and voice With deep roots in the Swedish and Finnish folk music traditions, this new duo performs traditional music from the two countries as well as original music. Both have toured internation- ally for years, and when they met at the New England Conservatory in Boston, an instant musical kinship was discovered. The violin and accordion sometimes play like one voice, at other times complementing each other in playful ways. Singing in Finnish, Swedish and English, the duo brings to the stage their musical backgrounds and passions. PERFORMANCES IN THE ARENA: 5 p.m., Friday, June 15 12:45 p.m., Saturday, June 16 2:30 p.m., Saturday, June 16 4:30 p.m., Saturday, June 16 11 a.m., Sunday, June 17 1:45 p.m., Sunday, June 17 Leikarringen likes to perform outdoors if the weather is nice. Look for them in front of the main entrance Saturday. NORDIC VIKING DANCERS Maria Skjeldrum Toppe, left, and Kristoffer Kleiveland PERFORMANCES: TRIBUTES to ABBA and FLEETWOOD MAC By popular demand, ARRIVAL, Canada’s tribute to ABBA, will return to the Asto- ria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival accompanied by DREAMS, Canada’s Fleetwood Mac tribute band. ARRIVAL performed their ABBA show to a large, enthusiastic audience at last year’s 50th anniversary festival, and people who saw the show and people who missed the show requested that we bring this group back. There will be one performance only, at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 16, at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. (Doors open at 7 p.m.) DREAMS will perform Fleetwood Mac favorites, then during the half-hour break for costume changes, there will be a Scandinavian joke-telling contest. Bring your best jokes and audition at 6 p.m. if you’d like to be included. ARRIVAL will then perform their ABBA tribute, and a public dance with Coreen Bergholm’s Scandinavian Country Band will follow in the Exhibit Hall. Admission to the ARRIVAL/DREAMS concert includes admission to the festival after 5 p.m. Shopping, snacks, a Viking dinner and beverages will be available, and the beer garden will be open before and after the show. The arena where most of the retail booths are located will close at 6:30 p.m. Everyone with a ticket will be readmitted at 7 p.m. to find a seat near the main stage. Don’t miss this chance to enjoy classic feel-good tunes from an outstanding tribute band. Bring your friends and enjoy a summer evening you’ll talk about for years. Reserved seats in the first five rows cost $37. The remaining reserved seats on the floor cost $27. Tickets for the general seating area in the bleach- ers cost $17. There are also general admission floor seats for handicapped individuals. Presale tickets through the Liberty Theatre are $2 cheaper. Visit the Liberty Box Office at 1203 Commercial St. in Astoria through 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 14, or go to their website to order tickets online at libertyastoria.showare.com/ SATURDAY, JUNE 16, CLATSOP COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS 5 p.m. – ARRIVAL/DREAMS tickets allow entry to festival grounds — ven- dors, full meals, beer garden 7 p.m. – doors to arena open for open seating 7:30 p.m. – DREAMS, Canada’s tribute to Fleetwood Mac 8:15 p.m. – Intermission, Scandinavian joke contest 8:45 p.m. – ARRIVAL, Canada’s Tribute to ABBA 9:30 p.m. – Public dance included with ticket ASTOR STREET OPRY – “SHANGHAIED IN ASTORIA” Now in its 33nd season, “Shanghaied in Astoria,” is part-vaudeville, part-soap opera and part 1950s-style Hollywood musical, all combined into a fun, enter- taining look at traditional local cultural folklore, including immigrant cannery workers from Scandinavia. What originated as a celebration of Astoria tradition has become a tradition in itself, and you don’t want to miss it! Catch “Shanghaied” cast members performing their olios in the beer garden Saturday. 7 p.m., Friday, June 15 at Queen’s Coronation PERFORMANCES: 10 a.m., Saturday, June 16 – Arena 1 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – beer garden 1 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – Exhibit Hall 3 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – beer garden 5 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – beer garden 4 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – Exhibit Hall Noon, Sunday, June 17 – Arena FOLK VOICE OF SEATTLE From an energetic rollicking Finnish Humppa to an elegant Swedish Ham- bo, the Folk Voice band performs them all. Home is Seattle, but Folk Voice can easily find its way to Astoria for the Midsummer Festival. Birgit Ages is on accordion, and Philip Ages plays mandolin and recorder, providing au- thentic Scandinavian and international folk tunes for listening and dancing. PERFORMANCES: 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., Saturday, June 16 – dining area in Exhibit Hall Noon, Saturday, June 16 – Midsummer Pole 7:30 to 9:30 a.m., Sunday, June 17 – dining area in Exhibit Hall LEIKARRINGEN OF PORTLAND DANCERS “Leikarringen” means circle or round dance. The priority of this group is the preservation of Nordic culture. Leikarringen of Portland is open to youths 4 and up. New dancers begin each year while some have danced for 15 years or more. This long dance tradition is rich with tunes and steps from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and even Estonia. Dances are generally fast-paced, and a recent addition to Leikarrin- gen has been their own group of 2:45 p.m., Sunday, June 17 – Arena SCANDINAVIAN COUNTRY Returning for the Queen’s Ball on Friday evening after the Coronation will be local favorite Coreen Bergholm and her band, Scandinavian Country. Coreen learned to play accordion in an immigrant community in North Dakota and now spends winters per- forming around Yuma, Arizona, where she met Ken, the tuba and trombone player. This is the band that plays the local favorite dances like the Varsouvienne, the Butterfly and the Irish Waltz as well as polkas, schottisches, waltzes and hambos. They even play the Chicken Dance and the Hokey Pokey! PERFORMANCES: 8 to 10:30 p.m., Friday, June 15 – Queen’s Ball in the Exhibit Hall 9 to 11 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – Scan- dinavian Ball in the Exhibit Hall THE SQUEEZER AND THE GEEZER Coreen Bergholm learned to play ac- cordion in an immigrant community in North Dakota and now spends winters performing around Yuma, Arizona, where she met Ken Presthus, PERFORMANCES: 4 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – beer garden VASA YOUTH GROUP The littlest dancers at the festival come from Portland and will perform at the festival on Saturday. This group of Swedish dancers is led by Christine Smith. Catch them leading the danc- ing around the Midsummer Pole and performing in the arena. PERFORMANCES: Noon, Saturday, June 16 – dancing at the Midsummer Pole on the front lawn 1:45 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – Arena 3:30 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – Exhibit Hall VIKING ENCAMPMENT BY THE EMPIRE OF CHIVALRY AND STEEL The Empire of Chivalry and Steel spe- cializes in the recreation of the culture of the Middle Ages, including the art forms, events (feasts, tournaments, ceremonies and wars) and combat arts from that period. The purpose of this nonprofit educational corporation is to study (and teach the general public) ideals and history from 800 AD to 1650 AD within the geographical bound- aries of Europe and to provide an organized effort in the collection, interpretations and distribution of historical data through publication and demonstration. Empire of Chivalry and Steel partici- pants will open their Viking Encamp- ment to the public on Saturday and Sunday and provide demonstrations of Viking sword fighting and amour making on both Saturday and Sunday afternoon. ENCAMPMENT OPEN: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – outdoors 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday, June 17 – outdoors DEMONSTRATIONS: 1 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – demon- stration – outdoors 2 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – demon- stration – outdoors 3 p.m., Saturday, June 16 – demon- stration – outdoors 1 p.m., Sunday, June 17 – demonstra- tions – outdoors 2 p.m., Sunday, June 17 – demonstra- tion – outdoors 3 p.m., Sunday, June 17 – demonstra- tion – outdoors
