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Whalan Stand Still Parade 2008

After about 4 ½ hours of non-stop dancing at Connie and Dave’s wedding Friday (congrats!) we headed south to Whalan, MN, pop. 64, for a bit of silliness and Norwegian small-town fun at the 2008 Whalan Stand Still Parade. Yes, every year on Syttende Mai (Norway’s 4th of July, pronounced Setten de my), a festival grows in this small town only big enough to have a parade stand still and the attendees walk around it. No lawn chairs needed.

The event hadn’t changed much, but the day was beautiful and I think the population grew about 10 times or more, at least for a few hours during and after the parade. Wow! What a turnout. The brats and lefse were cooking, the Rommegrot sweet soup was already gone (probably ok for my health to do without that cream) and the rhubarb desserts were disappearing quickly.

All the food sold out quickly, but they had great help and entertainment. The local radio show broadcast live, an Irish band played several times, some international dancers came in from Winona, local people sang and the usual static events went on including the cow milking contest, petting zoo, pony rides, art fair, bed races, and Shadow rode his bike like a daredevil through town (awesome).

Anyway, we had fun at the parade, with the locals during take down and the evening after when the roar dims to the laughter of neighbors over a campfire and eventually to the peace of a highway in the distance until 2009. Here are some of the pics from our gallery.