“People came back year after year – as visitors, as volunteers, as sellers,” he said. “So many people were positively impacted by this. We had 4,000 volunteers. They knew how to do it, what to do and they always wanted to do it.”

Even many of the entertainers wanted to come back the next year, Reiten said. Bjoro Haland, Myron Floren, Williams and Ree, Charlie Pride and the Oak Ridge Boys are among those who did come back multiple times.

“It was a handshake deal – will you guys come back next year? We put out our hands, and they always agreed to. It was so simple to bring them back,” said Reiten, who took over the reins of Hostfest from his father, Chester, in 2011 and retired in 2021.

“It was just always fun to be at the Norsk Hostfest, and those memories will always live with all of us, literally, for the rest of our lives,” he added. “It’s sad that it went away, but the memories are always going to be there.”

MDN File Photo Bruce Williams and Terry Ree, billed as “The Indian and the White Guy,” performed at Norsk Hostfest in 2016. Williams and Ree returned multiple years to the annual event.

Jeannie Sovak’s memories around First Lutheran Church’s rommegrot booth at Hostfest go back to the early 1980s. She remembers the grueling task in those early years of stirring the rommegrot until one’s arms were sore.

“But it was fun, because it was like a big family that was all working for a common goal – to get the rommegrot made. And, of course, we all loved it. We all had to take a few samples along the way to make sure it was of quality,” she said.

The church had a beautifully painted and rosemaled booth from which it sold its rommegrot. The early booth servers wore dark pants, white tops and red vests, giving them a Scandinavian look.

“It was really an honor to be called and asked if you would be able to work a shift at the Hostfest and sell the rommegrot. Back then, we had two booths going, and they were busy all the time,” Sovak said. “A lot of people always bought it in pints to take home because they would serve it during the holidays.”

The most fun was watching the faces of newcomers tasting the Norwegian pudding for the first time. Sovak said about 99% of tasters loved it.

In 2024, Hostfest goers were disappointed because the rommegrot ran out before the final evening. So in 2025, the church made more, selling out only a half hour before closure.

“Which was fabulous, other than people at church were hoping that we would have had extra so they could buy some pints on Sunday,” Sovak said.

Funds from rommegrot sales supported the work of the church and its women’s organization.

“Knowing that First Lutheran was such an active part and such an integral part of learning about Scandinavian heritage at the Hostfest was a pride that everybody in the congregation felt,” Sovak said.

Duane Brekke said the food was a big part of Norsk Hostfest, including Christ Lutheran with its potato klub and Bethany Lutheran with its lutefisk.

His parents were involved with the early festivals through the Sons of Norway in Simcoe, and Brekke continued that involvement, attending every day of the Hostfest from its inception. He also served on the Hostfest board for more than 20 years.

“I was truly blessed that I had a chance to start with it when the Sons of Norway Lodge in Simcoe would be serving sandbakkels and krumkake for 10 or 15 cents – and be concerned they were charging too much,” he said.

Brekke recalled the great entertainers, from Red Skelton to Bob Hope, and the comment from one Indiana visitor that Hostfest was an unbelievable deal with numerous, high caliber shows all day.

Reiten and Brekke agreed Hostfest’s popularity could never be linked to one thing. It was the atmosphere.

“It’s the food, the entertainment and the camaraderie,” Brekke said. “You could always visit with somebody, and there was a smile on the face of everybody there.”