Reservations due by December 1, dinner to be held December 8 at Vining Community Center

The annual Leif Erikson Sons of Norway Nordic Christmas is set for Tuesday, Dec. 6 at the Vining Community Center. The meal will begin at 5:30 p.m. and reservations are due by Dec. 1. Reservations can be made by contacting (218) 282-0332 or (218) 282-0406. The cost for dinner and entertainment is $20 per person.

Leif Erikson Lodge, Sons of Norway of Vining hosts the dinner annually which includes the lutefisk with butter or gravy, meatballs, mashed potatoes, vegetables and homemade rolls plus dessert crafted and served by Chef Hans and his team from Hans Hus of Elbow Lake. Coffee, lemonade and iced water are included. 

Following the dinner Nordic Christmas songs, tunes and dances will be presented by Swedish singer and instrumentalist, Ross Sutter, and Norwegian accordion master, Art Bjorngjeld. Bjorngjeld also sings Scandinavian comedy songs and tells great jokes, always with a good Norwegian accent and featuring the delicacy which inspires this whole evening—lutefisk. Sutter and Bjorngjeld have done hundreds of shows around the Midwest, across the country and in Scandinavia, performing both solo and with other groups at festivals, libraries, churches, schools, museums, weddings, funerals and Bjorngjeld’s specialty—lutefisk dinners. Bjorngjeld’s family has been playing for dances in North Dakota and Minnesota for over a hundred years and Sutter’s family specialized in church music. 

The duo has been featured at Nisswa-stämman, the American Swedish Institute, Norsk Høstfest, the Nordic Music Festival and the Scandinavian Festival in Kodiak Alaska.

In Vining Sutter and Bjorngjeld will be joined by Scandinavian dancers, Adi and Christina Press, who dance with several different Nordic dance groups in the Twin Cities and have been featured dancers in the annual Julglädje Christmas show at the American Swedish Institute for many years. 

Leif Erikson, Sons of Norway of Vining, hosts the event each year as the culmination of the year’s programs and events and will focus on the food and entertainment of the Nordics at Jul time. The evening has been made possible by grants from the Sons of Norway Foundation. Along with supporting Leif Erikson’s Jul dinner, the grants have made possible an assembly for students at Henning School and Battle Lake Schools.

Leif Erikson’s tradition for sharing the Christmas spirit is to offer attendees opportunity to donate cash or check at the table. The donations are to the Fargo/Moorhead Haiti Mission in which volunteer doctors and nurses travel to Haiti each year actively performing surgeries for children born with cleft palates. Other medical needs are also handled as patients walk for days and miles to reach the “hospital.” 

The dinner event is limited to a total of about 100 guests to allow space for serving and entertainment. A waiting list will be started once the dinner limit has been reached. 

For reservations, more information about the dinner, Leif Erikson, Sons of Norway and membership for women, men and children, please call Chuck or Barbara Olson at (218) 282-0332 or (218) 282-0406. Reservations for the dinner are due by Thursday, Dec. 1.