Submitted Photo Jerry Nelson and Barb Hankla, are recognized in 2004 as Norsk Hostfest’s Volunteers of the Year in 2004. From left are Nelson, volunteer coordinator Teresa Loftesnes, Hankla and Hostfest executive director Searle Swedlund.

When Norsk Hostfest returns to the State Fair Center Sept. 24-27, hundreds of volunteers will be out in force to help ensure festival visitors experience the full flavor of Scandinavia.

This fall, Hostfest will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the first Norwegian immigration to the United States. It was the celebration of the immigration anniversary that inspired the festival that became Norsk Hostfest 50 years ago.

Started by volunteers, the festival continues because of the role of volunteers, whether they have Scandinavian heritage or not.

Hostfest Executive Director Searle Swedlund recalls working alongside a Minot Air Force Base volunteer last year.

“It was fun because we get to share something with them that belongs to us,” he said. “It’s like sharing a meal with them. We get to share this festival.

“It’s not just a simple sense of gratitude for being part of the festival and attending,” he added of military volunteers. “They roll up their sleeves and are really part of this community, which I think is pretty special.”

That same attitude is apparent with the businesses that donate and release their employees to volunteer and the other volunteers who give of their time, Swedlund said.

He noted Hostfest’s volunteer coordination has moved away from project chairs who take on responsibility for certain activities.

“As times have changed, the nature of how volunteers see that kind of responsibility has evolved. Our model now is really to meet volunteers where they are, to find ways that they can contribute and coordinate with the time they have available,” Swedlund said. “It’s just such a gift to have that many types of persons with all these different ways in which they want to be part of something, coming to the festival and engaging in those ways.”

The online volunteer platform on Hostfest’s website enables individuals to peruse and choose from volunteer options. Once registered in the system, coming back year after year is simple.

“It’s a couple clicks and they get in and they are able to see the different shifts that are needed and tasks that are needed. Those early bird folks, of course, they go after what they really like to do,” said Teresa Loftesnes, volunteer coordinator for Hostfest. “They want to get in right away and get their days and their times.”

Just as tickets go on sale every Syttende Mai, or May 17, the volunteer platform opens each year on that day. Hostfest plans to release its lineup of entertainers in early May.

Loftesnes uses the online program to streamline communications with volunteers all summer and throughout the Hostfest.

“It’s taken out even having to have a face to face orientation session because they get that information about 10 days out from the festival, which is nice because people can plan and know what’s happening and where they need to be,” she said. They get maps, learn about early pick up of volunteer T-shirts and generally prepare to be ready to go when the festival starts.

There’s always volunteers who have to pull out due to last minute emergencies, but Loftesnes said there also are always volunteers who walk up at the last minute and offer their services. In addition, she has a list of people she knows she can text and they will quickly show up to help out in a pinch.

Last year, about 20% of the volunteers participated in a survey that showed 34% had volunteered five years or more.

“You see their excitement about coming back and helping with this community event. At the end of the day, that’s why most of them do it. They do not want Minot to lose this festival,” Loftesnes said.

At the other end, 27% of those surveyed reported they were volunteering for the first time. For first-timers, word of mouth was the primary way they heard about the opportunity.

Loftesnes said volunteers have come in all ages, from retirees to those in the workforce to students at Job Corps. Hostfest gets volunteers from coast to coast and from Canada who enjoy the festival and find volunteering to be a fun way to be part of it.

Hostfest rewards volunteers by offering free Hostfest admission the day of the volunteer’s shift, discounted concert tickets and other perks. At the 2024 event, 153 volunteers took advantage of the concert offer, Loftesnes said.

Last year, Hostfest utilized about 700 volunteers, who filled nearly 2,000 slots.

Above and beyond those volunteer numbers are the youth who come to sing or dance and the workers with organizational vendors who donate their time.

First Lutheran Church, which has served a sweet, rich pudding called rommegrot at Hostfest since its inception, recruits teams of volunteers to keep the tradition going.

“It just seems so daunting but it’s a lot of fun,” said Jeannie Sovak, co-coordinator at First Lutheran.

“What’s really fun is when you’re serving it, and somebody has never been to Hostfest before. They’ve never tried rommegrot, and so they buy some,” Sovak said. “When you see the expression on their face, it’s really fun.”

Sovak said the church’s volunteer recruitment for the late September festival starts in August with planning, purchasing supplies, and cleaning and sterilizing equipment. Closer to the event, volunteers make the rommegrot, transport it in a freezer trailer to the fairgrounds and assemble and erect the wooden booth from which volunteers serve. When the rommegrot is sold and it’s time to dismantle, volunteers clean up and put everything in readiness for next year.

Sovak said the backbone of the effort are retired individuals with the time and experience to support the project. Making the rommegrot takes about a dozen people, who commit a couple of long mornings and may be called to the church for a third day if the supply appears to be running short during Hostfest. New church members, and some youth, have signed up to make rommegrot because they want to learn.

Not all volunteers are church members, Sovak added.

“A lot of people will call and say, ‘I would like to volunteer and learn how to do this, so can I work for your church?’ Of course, we want people to learn how to do it, and we want people to have fun at the Hostfest,” she said. “It takes a lot of volunteers to make the rommegrot stand work, but we have fun doing it. It’s like a family doing a family project.”

“Hostfest is family,” said Swedlund, who took on the role of overseeing Hostfest just nine months ago. “What was clear to me, in really a short amount of time, is how happy people are. Happy to be together, happy to see each other, happy to meet each other. Hostfest is just the happiest place for those four days. It’s the happiest place in Minot, North Dakota, for four days at the end of September. There’s no place else with that sort of spirit or that sort of camaraderie or connectedness. You can’t define it, and you can’t create it. It is something that just belongs to the nature of who these people are.”

As executive director, Swedlund said, he’s discovered Hostfest’s ability to continue for future generations is more complicated than just putting acts on the stage and vendors in the room.

“It is connected in ways that we can’t even understand. What we need to do is understand how those connections impact the people who care the most about the festival, and I think for us, that is the mission and the goal as we move forward,” he said.

However, there’s also a consciousness of those into whose hands the festival’s care will fall someday.

“It takes time to build that culture and that connectedness, just like it took time to build what Hostfest is today. So, we take thoughtful steps every day to think about how we continue to honor what this event is really all about and the people that it’s all about, while meanwhile making sure that we try to connect the multi-generational nature to it. And it’s not easy. There’s nothing simple about how and what we can do to make that happen. But we collectively know that the best thing we can do is to hold up this heritage and leave the breadcrumbs behind so that the next generation knows where to start,” Swedlund said. “That, for me, is the critical nature of making sure that we lift this up as high as we can, knowing that maybe this generation next, maybe they’re not ready for it, but they will be someday. And when they are, we’ve got to be here for them in that context.”