Skip to main content

University of Wisconsin - Green Bay Midwest Viking Festival

Midwest Viking Festival

Join a celebration 1,000 years in the making.

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!

See Events
Sven Tunheim blowing into a Viking horn.

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 games (hnaftafl and kubb), archery and cooks making food with ingredients only available during the Viking Age.
  • Stories from the Viking Age told by Sven Tunheim, song and tales from Kari Tauring and battle demonstrations showing how the famous weapons of the Viking Age were used in duels and a shield wall.
  • Tours of the Viking House by Elspeth and Owen Christiansen.
  • Activities for kids (archery, a “Viking Quest” scavenger hunt, kubb, get your name written in runes).
  • Rune readings!
A child using a pair of bellows.Children crowd around a table with beads to make bracelets.Three children listening in on one of the demonstrations.Kari Tauring performing in front of an audience.

2022 Schedule of Events

Though our 2022 festival has passed, you can get an idea for what future celebrations entail. Some of the vendors had handcrafted items and books for sale. There was food for purchase: homemade baked goods from the Sons of Norway, and two food trucks: Caribbean Cruiser and Bacon Burger Company. The performance and demonstration schedule was the same for both days.

Time Event
10 a.m. Festival Opening!
10:15 a.m. Sven Tunheim tells tales of the Vikings
11 a.m. Battle Demonstration
11:30 a.m. Kari Tauring “Healing our kinship to Nature”
12:30 p.m. Sven Tunhaim tells tales of the Vikings
1:30 p.m. Kari Tauring “Frith & Grith: Divine Female Boundary Setters”
3 p.m. Battle Demonstration
4 p.m. Closing of the festival
Professor Heidi Sherman

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!

Contact Us