ENTERTAINMENT
Marvel at the talents of Nordic entertainers from around the Pacific Northwest.
There's always a great line-up of dancing groups, local talent, Nordic musicians, historic talks, kids acting troupes and much, much more! It's two days of non-stop live entertainment.
SAT, DEC 13 LINEUP
Doors
Brennan Kessenich
Revontuli
Scandinavian of the Year
Pickled Herring Eating Contest sponsored by Broder Soder
Nye Ålgen
Allemans Katt (och ett Danspar)
The Glensiders
Show ends
10 am
10:15 am
11:15 am
12:00 pm
12:15 pm
12:45 pm
1:45 pm
2:45 pm
5 pm
SUN, DEC 14 LINEUP
Doors
Liam Barnes & Smörkyrka
Vasa Youth Dancers
Meatball Eating Contest sponsored by Scan Cafe
Portland Nordic Chorus and Official Oregon Lucia
Tulehoidjad
Sussefusse
Jimmy Granstrom
Raffle Drawing
Show ends
10 am
10:15 am
11:15 am
12:00 pm
12:30 pm
1:30 pm
2:30 pm
3:20 pm
3:55 pm
4:00 pm
Performer Bios
Süssefüsse International Folk Dance Troupe
Süssefüsse International Folk Dance Troupe was founded in 1985 by folk dance enthusiast Heidi Vorst who currently directs the classes and performances. Dancers wear international costumes to represent the many global cultures of our world and the dances they learn, as well as to connect to some of their own heritages. Süssefüsse has performed for farm workers, students, retired seniors, kings and queens, and has travelled and performed in both Japan and Hungary. They often perform locally in the Pacific Northwest for Scanfair and Midsommar, the Japanese Obon Festival, Portland's Polish Festival and Folklife in Seattle.
Portland Nordic Chorus & Lucia Court of Oregon
Portland Nodic Chorus is a mixed community chorus celebrating their friendship and common interest in Nordic Culture and Music by rehearsing and performing music with a Scandinavian connection. They sing primarily in Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, and English.
An Oregon tradition since 1956, the Lucia of Oregon scholarship program puts young women interested in Nordic heritage in touch with the beloved Lucia legend of Scandinavia, while offering them the opportunity to serve their community and receive scholarships.
Vasa Youth Dancers
The Vasa Rosebuds Youth Dancers are sponsored by Vasa Order of America Harmoni Lodge, and they are under the direction of Christine Smith. The Rosebuds are comprised of children ages 2 to 16+. They have routinely performed at many St. Lucia and Christmas celebrations in Portland, they lead dancing around the midsommarstång every June in both Portland and Astoria, and they have traveled internationally to dance and participate in Midsummer celebrations in Sweden and Canada. Additionally, they have performed many times at the Junction City Scandinavian Festival, participated frequently in the Junior Rose Festival Parade, and danced at many other local multicultural celebrations. They are so excited to perform again this year for the guests at Nordic Northwest's ScanFair!
Tulehoidjad "Torch Bearers"
Tulehoidjad "Torch Bearers" is the Estonian folk dance group of Portland, Oregon. Formed in 1950, Tulehoidjad has taught Estonian folk dances to the four generations of Estonian immigrants and many American friends. Keeping Estonian traditions alive and teaching Americans about Estonian folk dance are the primary aims of Tulehoidjad folk dancers.
Liam Barnes & Smörkyrka
Smörkyrka (smoor-shirkah) means Butter Church and is comprised of Liam Barnes, Isabel Damman and Collin Stackhouse. They have been playing together since Scanfair last year and are excited to bring Swedish folk music to the stage in Portland.
They are able to be found at @butterchurchband on Instagram.
Jimmy Granstrom
Jimmy Granstrom is a songwriter who has had his songs played on the radio in more than a dozen countries on five continents. Together with Thomas Karlsson, he forms the songwriting duo Project Earthbridge (www.projectearthbridge.com), which have had their songs “Alicia” and “Made Of Stars” in rotation on the major Swedish regional radio station P4 Sörmland. At this year’s Scanfair celebration, Jimmy will do a recital of Viktor Rydberg’s beloved poem “Tomten”, which he has done at New Sweden’s Lucia celebration since 2015. He will also provide spoken introductions and lyrical excerpts as well as play clips from a variety of traditional and original songs, from “White Christmas” in Swedish to his English translations of Swedish songs by both million-selling songwriters as well as up and coming artists.
Brennan Kessenich
Brennan Kessenich got hooked on Scandinavian folk music after hearing Frida Johansson and Henrik Oja’s soundtrack for the game Unravel. After playing classical viola for many years, Brennan started playing Hardanger fiddle in 2023, taking lessons with Rachel Nesvig. He occasionally plays for Norske Runddansere’s Monday night dances on both Hardanger fiddle and flatfiddle, and continues to play classical viola (or, if an E-string is called for, a five-string fiddle) in the Oregon Sinfonietta community orchestra.
Revontuli
Valerie Klemetti Blessley and Jennifer Pratt-Walter have been playing music together for 30 years, as the harp duo Celtic Muse. Two decades ago, Traditional Finnish music caught their imagination with its simple, but profound, place in the long history of Nordic lands, and they created a specific new duo called Revontuli, for gathering and sharing music from Nordic sources. Together as Revontuli (meaning the Northern Lights/Foxfire) they explore rune-songs, dances, ballads, original compositions and sacred music on kantele, the national instrument of Finland, and include woodwinds, hand percussion and harp into their large repertoire. Revontuli has been privileged to perform at the National Nordic Museum in Seattle, ScanFair, Midsummer, Soaring Souls, 100 year Finnish Independence celebrations, the Naselle Finnish-American Folk Festival and many other venues. They have several CD recordings to their credit.
Allemans Katt (och ett Danspar)
Allemans Katt “everyone’s cat”, the name of the band is taken from the medieval cellar (once a pub) in Gamla stan, Stockholm. This trio of musicians are: Kim Majors on fiddle, Michelle Majors on nyckelharpa and Molly Majors on guitar. Their focus is on Swedish traditional folk dance music. They enjoy playing for social folk dances as well as all manner of Swedish traditional events. Och Ett Danspar (and a dancing couple) join Allemans Katt. They are Michelle Brunström-Steg and Robert Gustafson. The two have each been training and dancing Swedish folk dance for several decades culminating in Polskmärkesuppdansningen “dancing for marks”. Thus achieving medals in excellence for specialized Swedish folk dances, perfecting rare village dances. Michelle and Robert have also enjoyed participating in the Hälsinge Hambo contest the last several years.
Nye Ålgen
At the core, Nya Älgen is Dave Weisel on accordion and Kim Majors on fiddle. They have been playing Nordic folk dance music for decades and dancing longer. Dave and Kim decided to collaborate musically, they have friends join them frequently - this time it is Michelle Majors adding nyckelharpa, Molly Majors on guitar, and Brennan Kessenich on a second fiddle. You can catch most of them playing regularly for the Nordic social folk dance group, Norske Rundansere, most Monday nights at the Nordic Northwest Nordia House.
The Glensiders
The Glensiders are a folk band from the Oregon Coast bringing classic songs to life with high energy and ruckus choruses, coupled with beloved folk ballads and foot stomping songs of their own making. Traditional instruments like the Irish bouzouki, bodhran drum, classical guitar and more ring out beside lovely vocal harmonies to inspire an air of the past, brought into the present with gusto.
