(Revised) The first (Wednesday, Oct. 1) of four 11 hour days on my feet is over. As the woman in the airport said, "the first year is an iniation." With the exception of the lack of mountain scenery, you can get a feel that you are in Scandinavia, especially Norway, or experiencing a strange "out of Norway experience."

The wall outside of the exhibition center, "North Dakota State Fair Center" has painted flags of the United States, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Canada. A Dala horse statue on one side reads: "Of C'Horse we're SVENSK! (Swedish). See other side." On the other side of the statue reads: "Of C'Horse we're NORSK! See other side."

You enter the lobby of Leif Eriksson Milennium Hall. As you pass through the ticket takers, there are wooden troll figures on the floor and a sign above the Volunteer kiosk is "Norsk Høstfest" in the rosemaling art. Images of trolls are all over as you walk the concourses, including a large one on a bench. Someone offered to take a picture of me sitting with it, that will entertain my kids along with the one with the troll when I was in Bergen. Not to mention the stroll on stilts that walked around the different halls. The major entertainment is in Great Hall of the Vikings. Oslo Hall has a stage, with a large Norwegian flag as a backdrop, and a food court, where one could sample Norwegian fare like meatballs and lutefisk, meatballs and mashed potatoes prepared by students from Minot High School, lompe (ham and cheese for my lunch) or good old hamburger and fries (dinner at the en, to, tre (1, 2, 3) fine cuisine was $39.95 with a reservation. The other main halls are Copenhagen (which also had a stage for an entertainment), Helsinki, Oslo, Reykjavik, Stockholm, Stockholm Mezzanine, Skien Mezzanine, Troll Stroll South, Troll Stroll West and West Oslo Hall, and of course, Trondheim Hall, venue of the stores selling books, Dale sweaters (at $250 each), souvenirs and silver jewelry.

My place by the door was switched to diagonally across when another author, dressed in brown bunad (regional outfits) and knickers had an elaborate setup. Among his books was a novel about World War II with a Jewish angle. Every now and then he would play his fiddle. There are a number of books dealing with the war including Skis Against the Atom, Knut Haukelid's account of his involvement with The Heroes of Telemark in blowing up the Vemork hydro plant where Germans were using the heavy water in the region to make the fusion for the atom bomb. There is a book about one of the few Norwegian Jewish survivors and his contribution to the war effort.

I am among 14 featured authors with plenty of other books also available. Most of us were within a circle. To my left was Astrid Karlsen Scott, dressed in a beautiful bunad, author of authentic Norwegian cook books and histories of the war, including Little House on the Fjord, her personal story in post war Norway. She grew up in Oslo and now lives in Olympia, Washington, with her husband, Mel. Both were quite friendly. Astrid offered a number of tips: how to set up my books; "you can't sit down or the people will go by"; "If they stop, you have to introduce yourself and your book"; "now, go talk to them." I located the Norwegian-American Weekly on a table at the end of the circle and my ad was in it, which I put on my table. The man behind the table was from Norway and we spoke Norwegian. My bookmarks were a good marketing tool because they could be given out as reminders.

People have come from all over the Midwest, Northwest, Canada and Norway. A man started to talk to me at one of the souvenir stores and he was from Tromø, above the Arctic Circle. Later, someone told me 10 people came from Tromsø. A few people noticed the Beyond the Cold title, and muttered, "Not as cold as in Sasketchewan!" Or someplace in the Dakotas. People are drawn by the cover, leaving Writer's Digest as the lone dissenter. I sold 6 books on the first day, six more than I would have sold if I wasn't here. People said the big day is Saturday when there are the largest crowds, while others who have been here every day start making their decisions after being inundated with books, souvenirs, crafts, a feeling I could sympathesize with when I walked around. Halls are host to artists, clothing, food, gifts, jewelry, museums, music, rosemaling, Scandinavian crafts, spinning, sculptors, tatting, rugs, tours and travel, weaving, woodcarving, turning and chipping from the Scandinavian countries.

I am finishing this up as the new day is starting. I must tell about a special author, 98-year old Hazel Brink, whose children's story is The Runaway Little Red Lawn Mower. She wrote stories about her parents on their farm in South Dakota to entertain her grandchildren. Her daughters convinced her to publish them and at 95 she did. Her daughter, Loya Olsen, was with her and Loya's son, Daren Lavoi, illustrated the book and "all the grandsons learned to mow the lawn on the little red lawn mower." More on her and others later. Must get back to selling.

Picking up from yesterday, Hazel moved to a dairy farm in Cohasset, MN in 1945. She was a music supervisor for 30 years in the rural schools.

Next to me is Joseph Gavett, who grew up in Minot and now lives in Tacoma, Washington, was selling four books: Minot: The Magic City, a history; On the Corner of Soo & Hiawatha, where he grew up; a detailed book, North Dakota Immigrants ,and North Dakota: Counties, Towns & People, the first in a series. Deb Nelson-Gourley, who self publishes as Astri My Astri Publishing in Waukon, IA, was proud of the nationally awarded translation of History of Norwegian Settlements, that was written in 1908. Also dressed in a bunad, she also had books on heritage. Beside her were two of her authors, Sigmund Aarseth with Norway Painted in Light and Color, which is bilingual and includes 200 of his paintings, Aarseth's Rosemaling Design: Norwegian Telemark Style and Painted Rooms: Scandinavian Interiors. He and his wife had come from Norway, as did Gunlag Nøkland, author of Legend of Siljatjern (Silja's Pond) Seter: Life, love and faith on a Norwegian mountain dairy, which was bilingual with historic photos and recipes. She, too, was wearing a beautiful bunad. Her husband was with her and I spoke Norsk with them as well. Closing our circle was Jim Hove of Isanti, MN, author of From Scandinavian Shores: Immigrant Culture and Stories from our Nordic Family Histories. His wife, Linda was with him. Other authors was the popular Lauraine Snelling and Gerald Revelle.

Høstfest talks about the involvement in schools. There were parades and Dance of the Norwegian sweaters by children. Later there was Scandi Ski Fantasy a dance routine by three people dressed in blue with skis on, followed again by Dance of the Norwegian sweaters to Trondheim Hall. Youth are important at Høstfest. Here is among the Dances of the Norwegian Sweaters in Leif Eriksson Millennium Hall.


Another Dance of the Norwegian Sweaters, In addition to parading to Trondheim Hall, they performed every day of the Festival in Leif Eriksson Millennium Hall, which is where this performance took place.


A third dance by the children in the Dance of Norwegian Sweaters.


In addition to the Dance of the Norwegian Sweaters was the Scandia Ski Fantasy Dance.