June 2021
Yes! We will celebrate Midsummer in Dalesburg! Yes! We will celebrate Scandinavian and Rural Heritage! Yes! We will celebrate Summertime! We will celebrate on Friday, June 25 and Sunday, June 27, 2021, but it will be different. It will be different from Midsummer 2019. You should have received a Midsummer flier with information. I am including some additional information in this letter.
“Dalesburg Spelmän” is a fiddling group from Southeast South Dakota. They play traditional Swedish, Danish and Norwegian dance music on fiddle, nyckelharpa and guitar. The group is led by Bill Peterson and members include Tom Carlson, Tom Weisbecker, Carol Skallerud and Ken Duda; and they welcome other musicians interested in traditional Scandinavian music. For information about “Dakota Road Music,” visit: www.dakotaroad.com.
Dalesburg Scandinavian Association did not have any activities in 2020. We did not collect membership dues in January-February of this year. We will hold over the membership renewals until 2022. Financial information furnished upon request. Thank You if you did donate in 2021. Please contact me. We did purchase two signs with money from the Arneson-Hoglund Fund. A sign has been place on the grounds of Dalesburg Lutheran Church, telling the story of the unmarked graves in the churchyard. Another sign was placed at the Clay Point Cemetery in Prairie Center Township, Clay County.
We did not collect Friends of Midsummer membership dues in January-February. The Friends of Midsummer memberships will also be held over until 2022. Financial information furnished upon request. Thank You if you did donate for 2021. Please contact me.
Glad Sommar! Happy Summer!
Ron Johnson
605-253-2575
ron@dalesburg.org
www.dalesburg.org
www.facebook.com/Dalesburgmidsommar/
Midsummer Food Updates – Key Changes for 2021
WELCA is sponsoring a catered Swedish Meatball meal at a cost of $12 per plate. The meal will include meatballs, potatoes, two salads, a bun, and water or lemonade. Meals will be served – no buffet line – from 4:30 to 6:30 pm.
The DLC Youth will again host a food stand, which will include pie, fruit soup, and some additional food items to be determined.
Food will be served out of the narthex, and outdoor seating will be available under tents. No indoor seating will be utilized this year. All hospitality items (e.g., ticket sales, restrooms) will also be outdoors.
On Memorial Day Sunday 2021 at Dalesburg Lutheran Church, we had the “unveiling” of the sign, next to the wooden cross, southwest of the church. Here is the text of the sign:
During the 1870’s and 1880’s burials of members of Dalesburg Lutheran Church, were made in this area of the churchyard. The ages ranged from the young to the old – men, women and children. The exact number of burials is unknown, and there is no cemetery map for this area. The monuments still existing were removed in the 1940’s with the final monument removed and a wooden cross placed here in about 1960. Blessed Be the Memory of These Early Members of the Congregation.
The funds for this sign are from Karin & Winfield Arneson and Virginia Hoglund of Michigan in memory of C.R. Hoglund. The sign is placed here by Dalesburg Scandinavian Association in 2020.
This spring another sign was placed at the Clay Point Cemetery, an abandoned cemetery, between here and Vermillion in Prairie Center Township. Here is that text:
Clay Point Cemetery
Cemetery of the
Clay Point Free Church
also called
Swedefield Mission Church
also called
Ansgarii House
also called
Cast Iron Church
1874-1924
Books for Sale! HISTORY OF THE SWEDES WHO SETTLED IN CLAY COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA AND THEIR BIOGRAPHIES by August Peterson (1947) $25.00 / book plus postage, handling etc. Available from Ron Johnson (ron@dalesburg.org or 605-253-2575)