Scandinavian Midsummer Festival

Published June 22, 2019

Solstice Start without a Festival? Who better to celebrate than the Vikings!

Thousand years before organized Faith, Nordic tribes feasted both long-day long-night calendar events. Summer solstice: Baldur God of Light. Winter Yule: Goddess Freya.

Luckily today’s Scandinavian Midsummer Festival did not include human/wild boar sacrifice – though our Fjellborg Viking warriors did provide sword & axe combat 😊

Cold, foggy drive to Estes Park.

Arrived early Saturday for Opening Ceremony & raising of the Midsummer Pole.

Flag presentation followed, Swedish folk dance (Folkdanslag & Ring dances) – and of course, festival FOOD. Schnitzel, salmon, lefse & strudel.

Belly FULL, broke early & Colorado-celebrated ‘long day’ with a Nat’l Park hike.

High in the Rockies – gotta/hafta/must do – it’s SUMMER! 🌞

Midsummer is celebrated near the Summer Solstice. Historically, bonfires were common for this time, and people would both dance around them and sometimes through them, though it was usually the cattle which were driven through the fires as a purification measure. The word Blót basically means ‘worship’ or ‘sacrifice’ and it was a sacrifice to the gods and the spirits of the land. This high day is associated with love and fertility.

: cold Solstice Start

: raising the Midsummer Pole

: parade of FLAGS

: Lindsborg “Little Sweden”

: Swedish folk dance

: Fjellborg Viking camp

: SKOL

: Scandinavian Market

: festival FOOD – YUM!

Festival MAYPOLE

Nordic FLAG presentation

Happy Solstice!

Published June 21, 2019

Happy Solstice!

Bring on the SUN (please). Summer concerts. BBQ. Potato salad. Chips, pickles.

ICE CREAM! We ALL scream for ice cream🍦🌞

Cold rainy season start in Colorado – NOT curbing my enthusiasm.

Thursday nite LOVE in Community Park. Hazel Miller Band. FREE summer tunes & FOOD TRUCK barbecue. Kicked back on a blanket, ate BIG & counted clouds – on a ‘school’ nite. Sum-sum-summertime.

Friday, Louisville Street Faire. Downtown LOVE.

Every Friday nite, June thru August (Memorial Day to Labor Day). Live music, FOOD, local vendors. More BBQ, two summer scoops of Sweet Cow and Austin band Wild Child. Dig my Colorado hometown ❤️

Midsummer Festival tomorrow in Estes. Scandinavian maypole, strudel & schnitzel.

I declare SUMMER. Let the games begin!

: summer concert season

: FOOD TRUCK barbecue

: Community Park, Louisville

: Hazel Miller Band

: Thursday nite LOVE

: downtown Hometown

: Lulu’s BBQ

: summer FRIDAY

: Austin-band Wild Child

: 2 scoops of Sweet Cow

Friends, Family, Community and the Magic of Live Music

For three or four hours, eight summertime Friday evenings, life is just like it should be. Babies don’t cry, dogs don’t bark, and wise elders feel nineteen again. The Muse visits the musicians pretty much every night and dances when the spirit moves her. We don’t know why this all happens here, we’re just glad it does.

JUNE 21 Wild Child

Austin-based, seven-piece pop mini-orchestra, has carried its infectious blend of indie-pop and catchy melodies across the international music scene, charting viral hits and wrapping their arms around a diverse and dedicated fan base.

Hazel Miller Band, Community Park

Wild Child, Louisville Street Faire

Posted in Boulder County | Tagged concert, louisville | Leave a comment

Bighorn FINISH

Published June 15, 2019

Soak up all the good and let this be an experience of a lifetime.

Showered, layered up. Leki poles, 2 pair of shoes, socks, sunblock, water – race ready. Snow, mud, high altitude sun, my 3^rd Bighorn attempt. Fail & walk away? Not my DNA.

45-minute drive Sheridan to Dayton. Wyoming Rockies. 6am school bus, Community Center departure. Finish Banner in nearby Scott Park. 8pm, Cinderella hour.

Custer (South Dakota) seat mate. Small world. All roads led to Deadwood, 2 weeks ago. Run groups from Bozeman, Rapid City & Fort Collins represented. Only Wyoming runner I’d meet all day, Cheyenne-native first 5 miles on the loop to Cow Camp.

Slow ride UP, lotta mud. 35 minutes to Start; not much time to overthink things. Aspens, runner chatter. Hat, shades, sunblock. Poles, porta-potty, bug spray. Check-in, bib 803. High elevation ENERGY. I got this, no pressure. Ran my ‘Wyoming’ race Memorial Day Sunday; 50 States done – today, here, present. BIGHORN. My year, my time.

Out-n-back loop from Dry Fork, single-track trail next 13, ATV-dirt final push to Dayton.

Chatted a few minutes with NH Maniac, Kerri Haskins – and the show began. Long haul UP UP UP. One mile, two miles, 35 minutes of altitude. Run with poles, don’t run with poles. Made the ABSOLUTE RIGHT decision. Lekis were graphite light. Helped anchor the high climbs, push thru day’s mud, provided stability for the fast boulder descent.

Fave single-track of the day: 6-mile run to Cow Camp. Lodgepole pine, 8600ft temps & SNOW – mostly drifted in piles, couple spots up-over-thru. All clear on the descent. Shoe punched thru ankle-deep bog. Pole thankful. Last year’s experience remembered.

Cow Camp. 8 miles in, first Aid Station (lost one for weather). I was here last year, mile 28. Like a dated Civil War triage. Littered bodies, waiting for transport. 2019 (only 8 miles in): runner chatter, laughter, outreached hands for BACON. Fan FAVOURITE.

Warm, shed to a single shirt. High SUN & WILDFLOWER MEADOW. 6 miles to Dry Fork.

Long 25-minute Aid Station break. Shoulda/coulda/woulda, but it happened. Done, history. Slice of pizza, dry socks, sunblock reapply. Stuck with my weathered Newtons. Why trash 2 pair of shoes?

Pace struggled; got comfortable with a pack of walkers. Ear buds, tunes, back at it. GAME on! Wrist buzz, another mile, ‘nother aid station. Water refill – and UP. Mile 20 HILL, a mountain of UP. Head down, arms working the poles, steady, overcast sky, wind blew cold. Caught a team on the descent. Drafted their lead, navigating the boulder field down. Quick footed, ticked off distance.

Mile, mile, mile. Runner-on-your-left. Two of us broke away. Like a 14er descent, cool air, felt ALIVE. Cliff walls left shoulder, powering whitewater canyon-right. Lotta rock, lotta trail. Move move move, push push push. Feeling tired, robotic. Body compressed, beat up. Age reality.

Tongue River Trailhead. Laid ‘cross a boulder, back arched. Turned my head, first puke of the day. Up. Upright. Gotta keep moving. 7 hours in, 27 miles travelled, FIVE more per the watch.

Get’s ugly here. Walked 2 miles. Sat on a large rock. Blank.

Ultrarunner Nikki Kimball on a bike. Encourages me UP, pushes ice in my buff (neck gaiter). Says Pam Reed is coming up. Am I on another planet? Feeling meh, sitting on a rock – then, this happens? So…I joined two-time BADWATER WINNER Pam Reed & her pace team for two miles. No joke.

Walk-a-thon finale. Dizzy, really warm, dry heaving.

Quarter-mile to go. Down. Literally. Hands-n-knees, wretching black bile. Pushed too hard, too long. What happens before you die. Buzz, buzz, buzz. Trail angel talk (2 Rapid City gals, 18 mile event). UP. On my feet, nausea gone. Not dead. We run.

BIGHORN FINISH. Crazy EPIC life imprint. Longest FINISH of my life.