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Midwest Viking
Festival
October 2 & 3, 2026 • 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. • Free
UW-Green Bay is the proud host of the annual Midwest Viking Festival which explores Scandinavian history and the daily life of the region from a thousand years ago. Located at the Viking House grounds north of the Wood Hall lot, the festival celebrates the craft traditions, food, stories and many other aspects of medieval Scandinavia (Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden). Nearly 3,000 intrepid explorers joined us last year and we invite you to join the next expedition. Kom igjen!
Family Friendly
Gather with friends and family around a steaming cauldron and learn about that down-home Viking hospitality.
Interactive
Connect with different types of professions who are experts in crafts and cooking.
Cultural
Hear stories, songs and tales from those long-gone days.
Activities &
Entertainment
- A Viking encampment with blacksmiths, silversmiths, a potter, weavers, woodworkers, glass bead makers, medieval gamers (hnaftafl and kubb), archery and cooks making food with ingredients only available during the Viking Age.
- We are going to be hosting presentations
- Tours of the Viking House by Elspeth and Owen Christiansen.
- Activities for kids (archery - Saturday only, a “Viking Quest” scavenger hunt, kubb, get your name written in runes).
- Rune readings!
2026 Schedule of Events
The performance and demonstration schedule is the same for both days. The Sons of Norway will be selling cookies. For a more substantial fare, the food truck Caribbean Cruiser will have delicious lunches for purchase on Friday and Grounded Cafe on Saturday. While entrance to the festival is free, there is a cost for snacks, food and other items sold by vendors.
Special Guests Norsemen MN Entertainment will lead folks in Viking-age games and share stories of the era.
Friday, October 2
| Time | Events |
|---|---|
| 10:00 a.m. | Festival Opening! |
| 10:15 a.m. | Alec Sven Tunheim tells tales from the Icelandic sagas. |
| 11:30 a.m. | Battle Demonstration |
| 12:00 p.m. | Anita Burbeck “Sami Culture and History" |
| 1:00 p.m. | Skogtroll - an exercise in experimental archeology that explores what Viking age music may have sounded like. By building and learning how to play instruments that the ancient Nordic peoples may have encountered, Skogtroll tries to transport us back to the Middle Ages to get a glimpse of what it may have sounded like. |
| 2:00 p.m. | Kari Tauring: Nordic Plant Lore: Kvann Kvann (hvonn in Old Norse) or Angelica archangelica is a plant that was well known in Viking Age Norway. It’s spiritual and medicinal importance is mentioned in two saga stories and there were laws on the books promising severe penalties for stealing someone’s kvann. You could pay your taxes with it into the middle ages! Völva Kari went on a community funded “vandrestav” (wandering staff or pilgrimage) to Norway and Finland that deepened her relationship to the plant. She traveled to Arctic Norway, learning new words, uses, and even how to make a flute from the fresh stem from Sami musician and teacher Øistein Hanssen. In Finland she learned the names and stories kept there by elders. In southern Norway she found the hybrid and cousins of kvann. At Vikinghaugen (the viking garden, Oslo botanical gardens) kvann takes center stage. |
| 3:00 pm. | Battle Demonstration |
| 5:00 p.m. | Festival Closes |
Saturday, October 3
| Time | Events |
|---|---|
| 10:00 a.m. | Festival Opening with Kari Tauring |
| 10:15 a.m. | Kari Tauring Nordic Plant Lore: Kvann Kvann (hvonn in Old Norse) or Angelica archangelica is a plant that was well known in Viking Age Norway. It’s spiritual and medicinal importance is mentioned in two saga stories and there were laws on the books promising severe penalties for stealing someone’s kvann. You could pay your taxes with it into the middle ages! Völva Kari went on a community funded “vandrestav” (wandering staff or pilgrimage) to Norway and Finland that deepened her relationship to the plant. She traveled to Arctic Norway, learning new words, uses, and even how to make a flute from the fresh stem from Sami musician and teacher Øistein Hanssen. In Finland she learned the names and stories kept there by elders. In southern Norway she found the hybrid and cousins of kvann. At Vikinghaugen (the viking garden, Oslo botanical gardens) kvann takes center stage. |
| 11:30 a.m. | Battle Demonstration |
| 12:15 p.m. | Anita Burbeck: "Sami Culture and History" |
| 1:15 p.m. | Alec Sven Tunheim tells tales from the Icelandic sagas. |
| 2:15 p.m. | Kari Tauring, The Nordic Fox: stories and a songdance! Foxes live on the edges of the town - between Midgard and Utgard. They must usually stay within the threshold area, between the wilderness and the town.The threshold is a magical place.They learn by watching and imitating humans. Sometimes called shape shifters, they are aligned with other “threshold” beings such as huldre (forest gaurdians) in Sweden and have magical mothers in Finnish tradition. Come hear stories and join in a song and dance about the fox! |
| 3:15 p.m. | Battle Demonstration |
| 4:00 p.m. | Skogtroll - an exercise in experimental archeology that explores what Viking age music may have sounded like. By building and learning how to play instruments that the ancient Nordic peoples may have encountered, Skogtroll tries to transport us back to the Middle Ages to get a glimpse of what it may have sounded like. |
| 5:00 p.m. | Festival Closes |
Other fun things to do at the festival:
- Tour the Viking House with the folks who built it, Owen and Elspeth.
- Learn about Viking-era silver and black smithing, thousand-year old recipes from Northern Europe, coin striking, bronze casting, bead making, ceramics, bone carving, wire weaving and textiles (including an impressive natural dye demonstration).
- Shop with several vendors selling handmade crafted items.
- Educational games for children, including a Viking Quest.
- Buy the most delicious cookies from our local Sons of Norway lodge.
- Enjoy lunch with our friends from Caribbean Cruiser’s food truck Friday and Grounded Cafe on Saturday.
The festival remains free and accessible to all through the generous sponsorship of Viking Fest Minnesota, The College of the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CAHSS). An Artist in Residence in local schools was sponsored by grant from the Sons of Norway. Thank you all for your generous support!
Contact Us! Skal!
Meet Heidi Sherman, the director of the Viking House and the person who organizes our Midwest Viking Festival. If you have questions, just ask!