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Family Heritage December Issue
December 17, 2015
Eden Prairie woman works to keep Svenskarnas Dag traditions strong BY SUE WEBBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER Growing up in Edina, Tammy Wenborg Parr knew that her father placed great importance on his Swedish heritage. “I’m half S wedish,” Parr said. “My father was f ullblooded; his fa mily was f rom Sweden. My mom was Czechoslovakian.” “My dad wanted me to be a Svenskarnas Dag queen,” said Parr, who now lives in Eden Prairie. According to an online account, “One of the largest festivals in t he United States celebrating the traditions of a specific ethnic group, Svenskarnas Dag honors the Swedish heritage of the people of Minneapolis, Minnesota, and summer solstice, the longest day of the year. When the festival first started in 1934 it was observed in August, but in 1941 the day was changed to the fourth Sunday in June so that it would coincide with midsummer obs ervances in Sweden. “Held in Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis, the festival includes a ba nd concert, Swedish folk dancing, choral group performances, and the crowning of a Midsummer Queen. A na tional celebrity of Swedish descent is o ften asked to o fficiate at this one-day event, which attracts more than 100,000 visitors each year.” Her father’s strong interest led to Parr’s becoming involved with the Minneapolis Svenskarnas Dag organization in 1983. S he was cr owned queen in 1985, a nd has been involved ever since. The organization once was much bigger than it is now, Parr said. “People participated in it for years and years and years,” she said. “In the ’50s, people came to the festival for family reunions and had picnics there.”
Si h h organization i i has h bbecome smaller, ll she h Since then, the said. When Svenskarnas Dag founder Einar Johnson died, interest began to wane, she said. Determined to keep the tradition going, Parr partnered with Kristen Wicks to keep the tradition going. “It’s been such a big part of my life,” Parr said. In 2014, the Svenskarnas Dag group merged with the Norwegian group to form the Scandinavian Summer Festival, held the fourth Sunday in June at Minnehaha Park. But Svenskarnas Dag kept its name because of its longstanding tradition with the Minneapolis Aquatennial, Parr said. Parr and Wicks currently co-chair the organization’s Queen Committee. “It’s a big group of people,” Parr said. “Everybody in the group either was a queen at one time, or is the parent of a queen.” Minnesota’s largest Swedish-American festival has had a Midsummer Queen since 1921. The Svenskarnas Dag Queen’s duties include representing the organization at other city and community festivals, and being a q ueen candidate in the Minneapolis Aquatennial festival. Queen candidates must be of Swedish decent and have an interest in Swedish traditions and culture, live in Minnesota, be between the ages of 18 and 22, and able to be present at required functions. “The most important thing is to continue to provide an opportunity for a young woman to represent her Swedish heritage in Minnesota, or wherever she travels,” Parr said. “It’s fun to see how these young women grow as their year as queen goes on. There’s a large amount of growth. They just blossom.” Parr said she was one of the last three Svenskarnas Dag Tammy Parr (left) and Kristen Wicks (right), co-chairs of the Svenskarnas Dag queen committee, wore festive hats with SVENSKARNAS DAG - TO PAGE 2 Sweden’s colors for a local parade. (Submitted photo)