Swedish Festival

On the third weekend in June of each year everyone in Stromsburg becomes Swedish at heart. Their name may not be Johnson or Anderson or Carlson but they’re talking Ostkaka, Swedish meatballs, potato bologna, and rye bread. Citizens don their Swedish garb to welcome the thousands of visitors that come to our little town to experience true Swedish food and celebration.

The Swedish Festival acknowledges Stromsburg as the “Swede Capital of Nebraska.” It follows the tradition of the Midsummer’s Eve Celebration that the Country of Sweden holds each year, when the people celebrate the return of summer to Sweden by commemorating the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. They stay up most of the night and dance around gaily decorated maypoles. The holiday, which dates back 200 years in Swedish history, is described as a combination of the American Fourth of July and Thanksgiving.

We do not stay up most of the night in Stromsburg, but you will find a gaily decorated maypole with Swedish costumed children dancing around it.

There is plenty of authentic home-cooked Swedish food to satisfy your ethnic hunger. Grandma unlocks the door of her “Kitchen”, at 3:00 p.m. on Friday to begin the weekend’s festivities and there are many other midsummer activities.