THOUSAND OAKS, CA - The Scandinavian Festival will provide affordable family fun when it returns to California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks on April 14 and 15.

The annual Scandinavian Festival highlighting the Nordic cultures will run from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 14, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, April 15, with music, dancing, food, lectures, demonstrations, vendors and activities for young and old. An old-time Scandinavian dance will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. April 14.

The festival begins Saturday with an opening ceremony and a colorful parade of Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish and Saami participants in their traditional costumes carrying flags of their Nordic countries. A highlight of the ceremony will be the dedication of a stave church door portal commissioned by the Scandinavian American Cultural and Historical Foundation (SACHF) and created by master woodcarver Phillip Odden. The portal, a scaled copy of the panels on the Borgund Stave Church in Norway, will be set up at the SACHF booth during the festival and on display in the Scandinavian Center after the festival.

Also on display at the festival will be two Norwegian longboats built more than 100 years ago. Mr. Thomas, a traditional faering (four-oar) sports boat built in 1875, and Rein, a six-oar fishing boat built in 1905, were built in Norway from the 1,200-year-old Viking boat design used since the beginning of the Viking Age. Actor Robin Williams sailed on Rein in the 1999 movie “What Dreams May Come.”

The focal point for the festival will be a newly combined entertainment and dining area in Kingsmen Park featuring a stage and booths serving popular Scandinavian delicacies. Forty vendors of Scandinavian handicrafts will sell their wares on the festive Nordic Shopping Avenue.

The festival will offer music ranging from rock to Saami “yoik.” The ABBA Girlz will stage their flashy tribute to the famous Swedish group. Also performing will be the duo Jensen and Bugge, accordionist and master fiddler, and singers Deborah and Garth Phillipsen. Västkustens Spelmanslag will perform for open dancing and veteran fiddler Tim Rued will lecture and play a variety of instruments.

CLU students will help kids make head wreaths, troll puppets, Norwegian fish bags, wooden butter knives and Saami wooden reindeer heads. Adults can try their hands at crafts such as Hardanger and bobbin lace.

Returning to the festival will be the Ravens of Odin Viking Encampment, and Nathan Muus and his Saami Siiddastallan (community gathering).
Admission is free for children 11 and under and $7 for everyone else. Parking is free. CLU is located at the corner of Olsen Road and Mountclef Boulevard in Thousand Oaks. For more information, visit http://www.callutheran.edu/scanfest or email Sandra Grunewald at sgrunewa@callutheran.edu.