MOUNT JEWETT — At this year’s 48th annual Mount Jewett Swedish Festival there is an event for everyone from simplistic raffles of chance to human foosball games.
The schedule is jammed full of live entertainment, fun, food, events, games, raffles, auctions and rides.
The festival will be held in downtown Mount Jewett from the opening ceremony at 6 p.m. on Aug. 10 at St. Matthews Church until the closing ceremony at 6 p.m. on Aug. 12 in front of the Center Street stage.
Today is the last official day to enter in the float competition, but according to Beth Carpenter, who has been a chairperson for the festival for over 15 years, float entries will be taken up until Aug. 6. Floats must have a Swedish theme for the parade, such as vikings, utilizing the blue and yellow colors of Sweden’s flag, Swedish horses or nordic symbols.
Teams of six, who will be participating in the human foosball games on Sunday, are also encouraged to utilize any Swedish theme in the naming of their team or in costumes. According to Carpenter, teams will earn bonus points for including the themes with their teammates while playing.
Advanced registration for the teams for human foosball have already begun but Carpenter would like to encourage families, groups of friends, businesses, organizations or clubs to join, or if enough individuals register they will be placed in teams of six before the competition in order to give the team ample time to prepare before the games. Sign-ups will run from now until the time of the games, beginning at 1 p.m. on Aug. 12 in the lower lot of the fire department.
“The festival committee decided to change up the line-up from previous years, and replaced the previous Viking Ship race with human foosball due to a decline in the number of interested participates in recent years,” according to Carpenter. The committee had scouts who previously experienced human foosball at other events and had so much fun they thought it could really be a fun and interesting attraction to offer.
To understand more about human foosball games, there is a video posted to the Facebook event page for the Mount Jewett Swedish Festival, as well as a printable copy and time log for all events with their locations in the downtown area.
On display during the entire festival in front of St. Matthew’s will be a “moving replica” of a Leif Erikson Viking Ship, according to Carpenter.
Also available in advance are discounted ride tickets until Aug. 10. Tickets are on sale for one of four amusement ride sessions being held. Tickets may be purchased at full price the days of the fair as well. Rides will be available from 6 to 10 p.m. on Friday, noon to 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. Advance tickets may be purchased at Hamlin Bank in Mount Jewett, or by contacting Lisa at 558-7642.
Besides rides and opening ceremonies, on Friday evening there will also be live entertainment, and the “Minute to Win it” competition at the Center Street stage area from 8 to 9 p.m., which according to Carpenter, is “a really fun” game of skill and coordination with cash prizes and ribbons to be awarded.
On Aug. 11, there will continue to be many live entertainers, rides and more, including the chicken barbecue at the firehall from noon until gone, the Maypole Dance at 12:30 p.m. on St. Matthews lawn, the McKean County Fair Queen contestants, Alberta’s pie auction and winner announcements from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. with entries having to be in by Saturday morning. Also on the schedule are the children’s bike race for 3 to 12 year-olds, and the Swedish Meatball contest from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Heritage Park Gazebo.
The popular smorgasbord at St. Matthew’s Church will have many Swedish dishes from noon to 3 p.m. Also that day will be the car and bike show with registration from 10 a.m. to noon, parade at 5 p.m. and fireworks that evening at 9:30 p.m.
Sunday morning will be the Bob Swanson Memorial Run with check-in beginning at 8 a.m. Sunday is a full day with the pet and bike parade, lots of continuing local entertainment, human foosball game beginning at 1 p.m., soft ball games beginning at 2 p.m. and Family Feud from 4 to 5 p.m. at the Center Street Stage.
Carpenter said the festival takes a long time to plan. The 10-person committee meets monthly, year-round, in preparation for this annual Festival which brings about 4,000 people to the downtown area of Mount Jewett.
