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It seems like a long time…  That is an expression that I find myself using quite often these days.  As we begin to think about events and activities in 2022, we are reminded of the lack of events and activities these last two years.  We have been required to change our way of doing things – some good and some not so good.  We hope for normalcy in 2022!

Midsummer is scheduled for Friday, June 24, 2022.  We will be hosting the band Jaerv from Gothenburg, Sweden.  Please visit their website at:  www.jaerv.com/

We have not celebrated Lucia in our usual fashion for two years.  In the spirit of optimism I’m scheduling Lucia for Sunday, December 11, 2022!

During these last two years we have used some of the Arneson-Hoglund funds to place signs in the area of the unmarked graves at Dalesburg Lutheran Church and at the Clay Point Cemetery.  Family history inquiries have still been received.   

We are still in the midst of celebrating the 150^th Anniversary of many things in Clay County, Dakota Territory / South Dakota.  There’s still time to check your family histories and August Peterson’s “Swede Book” to see if your family filed a homestead claim in Clay County 150 years ago.  These years have seen and will see the 150th Anniversaries of many of the homestead claims in Prairie Center, Garfield, Glenwood, Pleasant Valley and Riverside Townships, Clay County.  The summer of 2018 marked the 150th Anniversary of the first Swedish homesteaders to come to Clay County, Dakota Territory.  In 2019 we celebrated the 150^th Anniversary of the Celebration of Midsummer.  We celebrated the 151^st Midsummer in Dalesburg on Friday, June 25 and Sunday, June 27, 2021.  Dalesburg Baptist Church celebrated its 150^th Anniversary in July, 2021.  These years will also see the 150th Anniversary of the country schools that educated and help assimilate the immigrant children of our community.  The schools that taught our ancestors to speak English!

Dalesburg Lutheran Church was 150 years old in 2021.  The present towers and basement were 100 years old in 2020.  There will be a “Cemetery Walk” at the Dalesburg Lutheran Cemetery on Sunday, May 22, 2022 at 4:00 p.m.  Welcome!

It’s time to renew / join Dalesburg Scandinavian Association!  We appreciate the support your memberships (both active and inactive) give to our organization.  To join or renew your membership in Dalesburg Scandinavian Association, please complete the enclosed form and return it with your membership dues of $3.00 / person / year.  Please check that your name and address are correct on the label.  Please make necessary changes.  It would be helpful and an act of kindness to the officers if you would respond before April 1, 2022!  Financial information furnished upon request. 

Please consider a membership in the Friends of Midsummer.  If you would like information, please contact me.  Thank You for your consideration.                                                         

Thank You for joining or renewing your membership!  Thank You to those of you who make additional financial contributions!  Thank You to those of you who give of your time, effort and talents to Dalesburg Scandinavian Association here in our community throughout the year!  Thank You to those of you from a far who support Dalesburg Scandinavian Association!  Your support is appreciated and needed.

             Tack så mycket!  Thanks so much!              

Ronald Johnson, President & Membership Officer

E-Mail:  ron@dalesburg.org       Tel:  605-253-2575

Dalesburg Heritage Website:  www.dalesburg.org  

Dalesburg in Cyperspace.  If you can’t visit us in person, visit us in Cyperspace!

Midsummer

Lucia 2019

Christmas Eve 2019 at Dalesburg Lutheran Church

             The Dalesburg Heritage Website has new items!

Dalesburg Heritage Website:  www.dalesburg.org

(and www.angelfire.com/sd/dalesburg99/ is still in cyperspace).

Dalesburg Midsummer Festival on Facebook:                                                             www.facebook.com/Dalesburgmidsommar 

Dalesburg Lutheran Church Website:  www.dlc-pvlc.org

Komstad Covenant Church Website:  www.komstadchurch.org

Dalesburg Baptist Church Website:  www.dalesburgbaptist.org

“Welcome to Peterson Farm:”  www.petersonfarmsd.com/

Nora Store:  www.norachristmas.com

Clay County Historical Society:  www.cchssd.org/

Clay County Historic Preservation Commission:  www.cchpc.org

Clay County Country Schools Project Website:                        www.flickr.com/photos/46877599@N08  

Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center:                                                                                                                               www.augustana.edu/swenson/

Swedish-American Historical Society:  www.swedishamericanhist.org

American-Swedish Institute:  www.americanswedishinst.org

National Music Museum:  www.usd.edu/smm/‎

South Dakota State Historical Society:  www.history.sd.gov/

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)

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) 

If interested in ordering please contact Rachel Olemann at 605-321-7262 or via email droelmann@gmail.com

Coffee Mug – $15

T-Shirts – $20

Polar Tumblers – $25

Lefse Sticks – $20

(Lefse Sticks are sold out but if there is enough interest we can reorder)

                                                                                         December 2020

Thank You for your support during the pandemic.  Thank You for your financial support and patience during these last ten months.

We decide to postpone the Annual Meeting of Dalesburg Scandinavian Association and to cancel the Lucia Celebration in December. 

Midsummer 2021 is scheduled for Friday, June 25 and Sunday, June 27, 2021, but stay tuned for more information. 

Midsummer 2021 received a grant from the American Scandinavian Foundation’s Scandinavian Folk Arts & Cultural Traditions:  Public Programs.  The band Jaerv (www.jaerv.com) from Gothenburg, Sweden has penciled Midsummer 2021 into their 2021 United States tour.  But… we will have to watch the course of the pandemic.  Again… stay tuned. 

You can follow up on Midsummer 2021 and other things, by contacting me at ron@dalesburg.org or 605-253-2575.  You can also visit:  www.dalesburg.org 

Pandemic or not, we are still in the midst of celebrating the 100^th or 150^th Anniversary of a number of things.  2018 saw the 150^th Anniversary of the coming of the Swedes to Clay County, Dakota Territory.  In 2019 we celebrated the 150^th Anniversary of celebrating Midsummer in Dalesburg.  This year Dalesburg Lutheran celebrates the 100^th Anniversary of its basement and two towers.  Next year Dalesburg Lutheran Church and Dalesburg Baptist Church celebrate the 150^th Anniversary of their founding.  In the coming years, many former country schools in Clay County will also see the 150^th Anniversaries of their founding.  The pandemic cannot stop us from observing these anniversaries in some way!

These years also mark the 100^th Anniversary of the Spanish Flu in our community, state, nation and world.  The effect of the Spanish Flu is found in the records of Dalesburg Lutheran Church and is found in the stories of those affected by the disease – stories passed on to future generations.  Just recently I learned how the flu of that period may affected my own family.

We have purchased a sign for the Clay Point Cemetery and a sign for the unmarked graves in the churchyard of Dalesburg Lutheran Church.  The signs were purchases with funds given by Karin & Winfield Arneson and Virginia Hoglund of Michigan in memory of C.R. Hoglund.  

Thank You for donations to Dalesburg Scandinavian Association and Thank You for donations to the Friends of Midsummer last winter or spring.

Have A Good Holiday Season however you celebrate it!  Think… and Stay Well!

God Jul och Gott Nytt År!  / Good Yuletid and Good New Year!

Ron Johnson, Dalesburg Heritage

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) 

Here’s something to do during the pandemic!  Check out these websites!

Dalesburg Heritage Website:  www.dalesburg.org

(and www.angelfire.com/sd/dalesburg99/ is still in cyperspace).

Dalesburg Midsummer Festival on Facebook:                                                                      www.facebook.com/Dalesburgmidsommar 

“Welcome to Peterson Farm:”  www.petersonfarmsd.com/

Clay County Historical Society:  www.cchssd.org/

Clay County Historic Preservation Commission:  www.cchpc.org

Clay County Country Schools Project Website:                                www.flickr.com/photos/46877599@N08  

Dalesburg Lutheran Church Website:  www.dalesburglutheran.org

Komstad Covenant Church Website:  www.komstadchurch.org

Dalesburg Baptist Church Website:  www.dalesburgbaptist.org

Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center:                                                                                                                www.augustana.edu/swenson/

Swedish-American Historical Society:  www.swedishamericanhist.org

American-Swedish Institute:  www.americanswedishinst.org

National Music Museum:  www.usd.edu/smm/‎

The image on the back page is used with permission from Jana Johnson Schnoor, Scandinavian Greetings, Iowa City IA.  Please visit:  www.janajohnsonschnoor.com/index.html

The Annual Meeting of Dalesburg Scandinavian Association has been postponed

The Lucia Celebration has been canceled.