Days of '47 Float Preview
- Stewart Shelline
- Jul 23
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 1
The Days of '47 Float Preview was a wonderful opportunity for Sons of Norway to share the message of the Crossings 200 Celebration with thousands of attendees. The level of interest in the float, our bunader, and Norway in general was high. By the end, we were exhausted but it was so much fun we wish we could do it again. Thank you to all who volunteered, including Steve and Kristen Birkeland; Steve, Catharina, and Caroline Affleck; Magnus Karlsson; Joy Johnson; Joeen Hill; LoriAnne Spear; Anita Dowden; Tom Oesleby; Robyn and Kent Skinner; Mark Peterson; Richard Barnes; and Heidi and Stewart Shelline.
A special thank you to Kristen Birkeland for her work hand-painting 48 feet of beautiful rosemaling to surround the float. Hundreds of preview attendees made sure to include the rosemaled panels as they lined up for photos with the float. Dozens more expressed interest in learning to paint rosemaling themselves after seeing her amazing craftsmanship. Kristen has honed her rosemaling craft for more than 50 years and devoted more than 150 hours on this labor of love for the Crossings 200 float.
Special appreciation also goes to Monet Young, Dan Popek, and their crew at Modern Display, who took Steve Birkeland's original design and turned it into a real float. They have been great partners in helping us realize this dream and honoring this celebration.
Thank you most of all to the donors of the Crossings 200 float. Without their generosity, the float wouldn't have been possible:
Check out the Crossings 200 Presentation that we showed during the Float Preview. It describes the meaning of each element of the float as well as the historical and religious context of the sailing of the Restauration in 1825.
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