Norway Day Festival
Mission Statement
The Norway Day Festival in San Francisco has three main purposes. Possibly the most important is to promote and maintain a close, mutually satisfactory relationship between Norway and the USA. This should apply in many areas, but especially in Culture and Industry.
The thousands of Americans in Northern California, who have descended from Norwegian immigrants, look to the Festival as a way to become reconnected with their roots. The mental images passed to them by their ancestors, often pictured Norway as some kind of "Heaven".
The music, language, foods, customs, etc., which are encountered at the Festival, remind them of the things that make them proud to say that they have Norwegian blood in their veins. Even though the personal images of Norway may now be quite out-of-date, the descendants are happy to cling to them and, if possible, pass them on to others.
Along with their emotional ties to "Norge", today's descendants are equally anxious to promote "Modern Norway." They are proud of Norway's advances in areas like Technology and Ecology, and Norway's emerging prominence in World Diplomacy. Thus, a third purpose for the Festival is to call attention to all the good things that have been accomplished by and now offered by the "Norway of Today."
History
During a "Marketing Norway" seminar in San Rafael on September 19, 1992, The Royal Norwegian Consul General, Dag Mork-Ulnes, asked the leaders of several Norwegian/American organizations what they thought of having a festival to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Edvard Grieg's birthday. This idea was met with enthusiastic approval, and that is how our Norway Day Festival came into being.
The first event was held on May 9, 1993, in the Conference Area of San Francisco's Fort Mason Center. Instead of the 300 anticipated visitors, a wall-to-wall crowd of 1,300 was in attendance. Many San Francisco, Bay Area Norwegian/American organizations, coordinated by the local Norwegian National League, operated both food and craft demonstrations. Local groups provided entertainment, and Tabitha, the women’s auxiliary of the Norwegian Seaman’s Church in San Francisco, prepared authentic Norwegian Foods. The Norwegian Consulate Office arranged for other commercial exhibits.
Due to the success this first year, it was decided to make this an annual event, sponsored jointly by the Consul General and all the Norwegian/American organizations in Northern California. A mission statement was adopted that brought out these main purposes of the Festival:
- To promote and maintain a mutually satisfactory relationship between and Norway and the USA.
- To help descendants of Norwegian Immigrants appreciate and retain contact with their heritage.
- To promote "Modern Norway" by calling attention to all the good things that have been accomplished by the "Norway Today", especially in the areas of Technology, Ecology, and World Diplomacy.
Norway Day, Inc. is a non-profit group, staffed entirely by volunteers. However, since the Consul General from Norway suggested the original idea of the festival, we have continued to receive both physical and financial help from representatives of the Norwegian Government. Based on this support, it was decided to make each festival a purely Norwegian event. All sales booths, foods, entertainment, etc. are to have distinctly Norwegian characteristics.
