Do You Remember the Parade and Lutefisk Connection?

Decorah Mayor David T. Nelson, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, State Representative Paul Johnson and Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Robert Lounsberry participate in the Nordic Fest Lutefisk Eating Contest. Phone circa early 1980's by Jack Anundsen.

The just-completed U.S. Fourth of July holiday brought the experience brought the experience of elected officials and office candidates in parades to many communities large and small. The Nordic Fest Grand Parade each Saturday morning will inevitably be home to more of the same in just a few weeks. 

Pouring over board meeting minutes for any nonprofit operations may not be the first thing even the most enthusiastic researcher wants to do. The language of such minutes is often clean, lacks critical context and may unintentionally gloss over substance of a meeting in an effort to keep the focus on facts like the outcome of a vote.   

While reviewing available Nordic Fest board meeting minutes certainly had its routine moments, interesting notes were also revealed, especially with regards to a connection between politicians in the parade and the Lutefisk Eating Contest. To revisit Darin Svenson's guest blog on this contest, click here. 

When the Lutefisk Eating Contest started, it was not the public entry event that it is today. Unsure of the response the event would get, organizers kept the contest focused on special Nordic Fest guests. 

Here's where it gets interesting. 

Board meeting minutes note a general acceptance of politicians in parades as a given for any special event, yet a slight distaste for the necessity. There was also a concern about people actually entering the new Lutefisk Eating Contest. For several years, this issue was resolved in a unique way: if an elected official wanted to ride in the Nordic Fest parade, he or she must also enter the Lutefisk Eating contest. This rule may have been responsible for the collection of elected officials pictured above. 

While the political climate 35 years later make it difficult to imagine this rule being successfully enforced, this unique connection between two events remains an interesting part of the rich history of Nordic Fest.