UW-Green Bay to Host Midwest’s Largest Viking Festival This Weekend

Green Bay, WI — On Friday and Saturday, October 6th and 7th, Vikings from near and far will gather and raise an encampment on the UW-Green Bay Viking House grounds (near Wood Hall) on the Green Bay campus. This is the Midwest’s largest Viking festival.

The festival will be held from 10:00am to 4:00pm, and is free and open to the public.

This year, more than sixty Vikings will set up a large camp to demonstrate blacksmithing, silversmithing, wood carving and turning, textile arts, glass bead making, cooking, storytelling, singing, archery, and battle reenactments. This is an all-ages festival with activities for kids as well (archery, a Viking Quest, and kubb).

This year’s festival will also host numerous new events, such as a performance from Telge Glima and demonstrations from rune and flute making expert Kari Tauring. There will also be a local farm bringing their reindeer to display.

Unique to this year’s festival, the UW-Green Bay Teaching Press will be launching a new book on the Viking House at 4:30pm on October 4th, in Wood Hall on the UW-Green Bay campus. Guests can RSVP here. The new book, titled The Viking House Saga: A Journey into Experiential Archeology at UW-Green Bay and co-authored by Professor Heidi Sherman and Owen Christianson, chronicles how the Viking House was built. It details how the Viking House provides hands-on learning experiences and community engagement for UW-Green Bay.

The book will be available for purchase at the event and during the festival.

Viking festivals are celebrations of Scandinavian history and culture. With nearly 3,000 people joining in on the celebrations last year, the festival aims to educate on the daily life of the Scandinavian region from a thousand years ago. The educational emphasis of the Midwest Viking Festival sets it apart from other festivals around the country.

 “Our festival is based on archeology,” said UW-Green Bay Professor Heidi Sherman, director of the Viking House and organizer of the Midwest Viking Festival, “so we really stay away from stereotypes that you find in the modern media.”

Through education, the Midwest Viking Festival carries vital importance for the region. Thousands of people in the Upper Midwest have ancestry from Scandinavian countries, attributed to the large influx of Scandinavian immigrants in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Prof. Sherman discusses the importance for all, not just those of Scandinavian descent— “we don’t want to forget that we came from somewhere else” she says. “It is a great way to see how history can be really exciting, sharing about everyday struggles and joys of daily life, and how people lived in that time.” 

Learn More & View the Full Midwest Viking Festival Schedule HERE.