CHICAGO, IL (June 28, 2006) – The Swedish Consulate General in Chicago voiced her enthusiastic approval of North Park University\u2019s first Swedish Midsummer Festival last Saturday. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe can finally have a real Midsummer tradition in the city,\u201d said Kerstin Lane, as she watched dancers circle the wreathed maypole.<\/p>\n
![\"Maypole](\"http:\/\/old.covchurch.org\/uploads\/gD\/MK\/gDMKvGbSJt80qHNdPyOvkQ\/Maypole.jpg\")
A street festival had been held in the nearby Andersonville neighborhood, but the park-like setting behind Old Main was much more authentic to the tradition in Sweden, where the festivals often are held in meadows. Even the weather was authentic, she observed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just talked to Sweden an hour ago, and this is the weather they are having there today,\u201d Lane said.<\/p>\n
The festival is one of the most important in Sweden, Lane says. The festival celebrates the longest day of sunlight, but also marks the day separating the time when farmers have finished planting and when they begin cultivating crops.<\/p>\n
Typically, dancers gather around the maypole decorated with greens and flowers. Participants at the North Park event learned the traditional frog dance among others.<\/p>\n
The university\u2019s Center for Scandinavian Studies sponsored the event that drew an estimated 400-plus individuals from the community and Sweden. Charles Peterson, the dean of faculty, said timing was everything in deciding to hold the event.<\/p>\n
The Bjurtjarn Theatre Group from Varmland, Sweden, had asked if it could perform at the school, and a gospel music team also had been scheduled to perform, Peterson says. \u201cWe just started adding pieces together and we were able to hold the festival. It also seemed like the thing North Park should be doing.\u201d<\/p>\n