The town park's sign declares that Stromsburg is the Swede Capital of Nebraska, and most of the events were held within easy walking distance of that park.
Our first event was the children's tractor driving contest. Those traditional John Deere riding toys have been specially outfitted with a weighted box on the trailer they are towing.
As the children pedal further, that weight travels higher up the trailer ramp. It becomes heavier until they just can't pedal any further. The boy and girl in each age division that goes the farthest before their legs give out win trophies.
Tractor contests aren't just for the kids, as we witnessed our first-ever Swedish tractor pull. Four contestants each have a rope to help pull that tractor from its standing position to the finish line down the street.
They had tractor pulls for adults and children, and it was harder for the little guys to get those wheels rolling down the street.
Giving it their all, we saw more than one competitor hit the brick street trying to move that tractor as fast as possible. In the end, "Pappy and the boys" (pictured in the first picture) won the tractor pull by a fraction of a second.
We found another activity unique to this festival when we met Dan at his escape room booth. He had fun brain teaser puzzles for the festival-goers to try to figure out. But he was also selling tickets to a traveling escape room set up at a local church. We enjoy meeting new people as we wander, and Dan and his wife Linda are delightful ambassadors for Nebraska. We enjoyed their escape room, where we worked together to unravel puzzles.
Our Swedish experience was not limited to the town's park, as we also rode the free tour bus to see other historical sites around town. Stromsburg was settled by a group of Swedish emigrants, including our bus driver's grandfather. He told us the town's five churches all conducted Sunday services in Swedish until the 1920's. Our tour included jokes about the traditional Swedish comic pair of Lena and Ole, told by the festival queen on our tour.
We're glad to see that they didn't forget the food at this festival, and we ate the Classic Swedish Plate for lunch. That would include Swedish meatballs and gravy, potato bologna, parsley potatoes, lingenberry salad, Swedish rye bread, and Swedish cheese dessert topped with lingenberries.
We had non-stop activities all afternoon until the parade started at 6:00 p.m. We were glad to see the Swedish theme continued in the parade . . .
mixed with the agriculture that drives this community today,
and a touch of the horse-drawn agriculture from yesterday.
The music provided at this festival was exceptional. We especially enjoyed the Wissman family from Nebraska. They have been performing for twenty years with their 13 children, and today's gospel bluegrass performance included the six youngest children and their Father.
After all that wholesome entertainment, we even stayed for the last band of the day, "Beer Money." This was listed as a street dance, but we were the only two dancers in the streets of Stromsburg this evening.
We stayed at the dance until the sun was setting behind the carnival on this beautiful summer evening.
The beautiful weather and the welcoming culture made for a very enjoyable festival day for us. We're even looking a little Swedish as we enjoy the Swede life in Stromsburg!
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