Swedish Cultural Society celebrates Midsommar with crafts, music and food

Flower crowns, a Swedish lunch and the decorated maypole filled Christ Lutheran Church in Duluth on Sunday as the Swedish Cultural Society of Duluth held its annual Midsommar celebration. The gathering ran from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at 2415 Ensign Street, with admission set at $5 and singing and dancing beginning at 3 p.m.

The afternoon mixed old customs with a family setting. Guests made flower crowns, helped decorate the maypole, and moved through the kinds of songs and ring dancing that have long defined Midsommar in Swedish communities. Dale Sohlstrom, the society’s co-president, said the holiday centers on light and the shift from dark winter months to the brightness of midsummer, a meaning that carries special weight in northern places like Duluth and the Northland.

The society says Midsommar has been part of Duluth life for decades. A 2025 program described the holiday’s local history as stretching back many years and listed the familiar elements that returned Sunday: raising the majstång, making flower crowns, singing and ring dancing. The event also reflected the organization’s larger mission, which the society says began in 1934 to support and promote Swedish culture and language. GiveMN says the group was organized that year by the late Carl Silfverten.

That work now runs on a steady calendar. The society sponsors Lucia in December, Nordic Review, Silent Auction and Fika in May, and Midsommar in June. Its regular meetings take place at First Covenant Church in Duluth during September through November and again from February through May, where members learn Swedish songs and share fika. The repeated rhythm gives Duluth a visible Swedish cultural presence beyond one summer festival.

It also keeps the event open to the wider community. The society has framed Midsommar as a gathering with food, music and hands-on activities that welcome young families and people who may not be Swedish themselves. In a city where immigrant traditions have shaped churches, neighborhoods and civic life for generations, that mix of heritage and openness has made the festival a shared public ritual as much as a cultural preservation effort. A 2025 Nordic Review program also showed how broad that network can be, with a Folkdräkt Parade that included Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Danish, Icelandic and Sami representation.