Marion Anderson and Betty Fedorchak are among those who say they will miss the good times associated with working with food and vendor booths at Norsk Hostfest. Janie Plummer has a wall of photo memories from the 31 years she spent catering to the stars.

Plummer led a crew that fed about 250 entertainers, their bands and crews twice a day. She said she started planning every detail a few months ahead to ensure everything was in place that the entertainers requested. Entertainers were specific about what they wanted on the menu, sometimes down to the brand of bottled water. Plummer said she wasn’t familiar with one band’s request for creamed spinach but was able to get a recipe from Willie Nelson’s driver that called for slow cooking the greens for four hours and adding a little vinegar.

“It really was very delicious,” she said.

Her committee of five or six grew to about 60 people over the years.

Jill Schramm/MDN Janie Plummer displays some of the many photos taken with Norsk Hostfest entertainers during her 31 years ensuring they were well fed.

“I had a really good committee. They each had their thing they had to do, and they did it very well. They actually had many things to do, and they had to have them done on time,” she said. “Everybody knew what they were going to do during their four-hour shift and quite a few of the people worked a lot more than four hours just because they wanted to do their job right. I usually was there at 8 in the morning and sometimes I didn’t go home until midnight.”

A head cook or chef was in charge of the meal preparations, and Plummer also had a crew that made about 40 cakes fresh each day.

“But it was fun, and I got to meet all the entertainers and I got my picture taken with most of them,” Plummer said. “I got to know some of the entertainers pretty well, and especially if they were here more than once.”

Her favorite entertainers were long-time performers such as Chet Atkins, Charley Pride or Eddy Arnold.

“They were very confident in who they were. They weren’t trying to impress anybody,” she said. Most of the concerts she watched from sidestage as she kept an eye on the backstage to ensure everyone’s needs were cared for, but there were a couple of concerts that she enjoyed from the audience seating.

Another task Plummer took on was pressing the stage outfits for the entertainers, but the food was most appreciated.

“They loved our food,” she said, noting one stage crew member reported they came to MInot just for the food. “He said that we’re in the top 10 in the nation for food.”

The Dakota Finnish Society won the hearts of Hostfest-goers through their stomachs, too.

Anderson, president of the society, said a group from the Rolette County area with Finnish ancestry started a booth to sell Finnish bread. When they discontinued, Anderson said, her mother, who was 100% Finnish and a faithful visitor to Hostfest, started baking bread for the food booth, which she did for several years until her death in 1996. Sometimes she brought a friend with her from her home in Minnesota to help with the process.

“I have a picture of my whole dining room table loaded up with bread,” Anderson said.

Anderson recalled a visitor coming to the booth who introduced himself as a cook for Johnny Cash, a Hostfest performer that year. He wanted to know if the food was authentic because Cash requested a taste of authentic Scandinavian food.

“We just gave him a few loaves of bread and my mother was just thrilled,” Anderson said.

Outside of Hostfest, Anderson worked to start the Dakota Finnish Society, enlisting the help of Bruce Carlson, vice president. The first FinnFest was held in 1997. The society then began offering a Finnish beef stew with bread at Hostfest.

“It got very popular,” Anderson said. “Most people said it was the healthiest thing to eat at the Hostfest. It was so full of vegetables and good broth.”

The booth went from a two-burner hot plate, producing two kettles of stew a day, to a more traditional stovetop. Cooks started at 7 a.m. and went all day, making several kettles of stew.

“It got to where we had two stoves and three refrigerators,” Anderson said. “For a while we also sold bread pudding.” The society initially offered Finnish cheese with the bread and stew until the cheese became more difficult and expensive to acquire.

The society has celebrated Pikkujoulu or “little Christmas” the first Saturday of December, using the occasion to honor those who worked at the Hostfest booth, Anderson said.

“Most years we catered a meal,” she said. “But a couple years, we just cooked stew, which we did last year.”

Except for retaining enough money for supplies for the next year, the society donated the thousands of dollars it generated in proceeds from Hostfest over the years to a number of charities and also sponsored college scholarships.

Anderson said she attended Hostfest every year, taking the time off from her job for what she jokingly but affectionately called “Scandinavian Holy Days.”

“I don’t ever remember being bored at Hostfest. It wasn’t a possibility. I took in a lot of concerts, visited with a lot of people,” she said. “It was a good time, and Minot is going to miss that.”

Fedorchak’s role at Norsk Hostfest for many years involved helping operate Hostfest’s booths that sold items such as T-shirts and clogs.

“We were out there several days before the Norsk Hostfest actually started, setting up and greeting people. As soon as the doors opened to let them in to set up their booths, it was just like reunions after the first couple of years. People loved coming back,” she said. “Everybody was just happy to see each other.”

Walking through the venue during the festival became a wonderful experience of shared greetings and reuniting with friends seen once a year, she added.

Fedorchak recalled the hall chairpersons who made sure the event ran smoothly for the vendors.

“They were wonderful. You can’t believe what they did for us in helping set up and assisting everybody in each of the rooms,” she said.

She remembers vendors coming from Scandinavian countries who would spend extra days touring and learning about North Dakota. She hosted visitors in the years when home hosts were common to accommodate everyone flocking to Minot for the festival.

She said it always was fun to involve new Minot Air Force Base volunteers who were exposed to Hostfest food and artisans for the first time. Although she is Irish, Fedorchak said, it didn’t seem to matter.

“Chester used to say there’s a little Scandinavian in all of us,” she said of Hostfest founder and past president Chester Reiten. “I think that’s true.”

Entertaining out-of-town guests

Sibley Gessner

Minot

My Uncle came to Minot from Pine River, MN (410 miles away) to go to the Hostfest with me, and to see a Randy Travis concert. I also showed him the Scandinavian Park. He had so much fun, he asked if the next year he could bring his wife and another couple. Of course I said yes. They loved it and had a great time again.

I gave my guests a driving tour around the city of Minot. I told them that I would show them deer, geese and turkeys that live right in town. They were amazed, when I drove them to several locations where I knew the critters hang out. I told them that some “real turkeys” live next door to my daughter (yes, they were there), geese at Oak Park, and deer at the cemetery. They loved our town.

Hostfest brings Scandinavian heritage closer

Janet Hiltner

Minot

My Mom and I attended Hostfest from the start. In the early years, we would stay all day and drive home to Garrison after the evening dance was over. My parents began to volunteer, and it was always so fun to visit them in their camper parked by the KXMC building, to see them outside the Great Hall checking tickets, or to listen to Mom in the bookstore informing shoppers about the literature. She would just beam when she got to speak Norwegian to people, and many thought she was from Norway. One of her biggest ambitions was to teach people how to say Hostfest correctly.

Throughout the years, I came to know various vendors and artisans and looked forward to visiting with them and purchasing ethnic treasures. When En To Tre was open, I enjoyed many special meals in such a classy atmosphere.

Recently I retired from South Prairie School. During my years there, I loved watching “Hostfest in the Schools” perform for and educate our students. Such a wonderful program, and students as well as staff enjoyed the experience.

Hostfest brought me closer to my Scandinavian heritage, and I looked forward to going every year. I always felt great pride attending with my parents, my husband, family, and friends. Those memories will forever live in my heart.

Mange Tusen Takk.