Arts & Culture

This weekend, celebrate Norway, see a symphony concert or catch fishing rights film

By Molly Gilmore Contributing writer

Nibble at Norway Day

The offerings at Thurston County’s Norway Day go well beyond the typical (music, dancing, art, crafts) to include fjord horses, Norwegian elkhounds and even battling “Vikings.” But the annual celebration, happening Saturday, April 19, is probably best loved for its food. The Nordic Café, open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., features cakes, pastries, lefse (Norwegian potato flatbread), herring and even Kjøttkaker Med Poteter (a meatball sundae with mashed potatoes, gravy and lingonberry sauce). So popular are the goodies that the event website warns that the café will close early if sold out. As if that weren’t enough, Norway Day is also famed for its bake sale. (The Olympian suspects that could sell out early, too.) The 17th festival, put on by the Sons of Norway and Daughters of Norway, happens from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Thurston County Fairgrounds, 3054 Carpenter Road SE. Tickets are $3; children younger than 12 are admitted free with a paying adult.

Lefse with lingonberry preserves, butter and cinnamon sugar.
Lefse with lingonberry preserves, butter and cinnamon sugar. Sue Kidd skidd@thenewstribune.com

Symphony welcomes renowned guitarist

The Olympia Symphony Orchestra wraps up its season Saturday, April 19, with a concert showcasing world-renowned classical guitarist Petrit Çeku of Kosovo. Çeku, who has won numerous awards and performed with symphonies around the globe, will play “Concierto de Aranjuez,” a guitar concerto by Joaquin Rodrigo. Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” is also on the program for the concert, happening at 7:30 p.m. at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts, 512 Washington St. SE, Olympia. Çeku and symphony music director and conductor Alexandra Arrieche will answer questions after the performance. Tickets are $15.53-$84.75.

The feature-length documentary “Fish Wars” highlights the violent struggle faced by Indigenous nations to exercise their treaty-protected right to harvest salmon in the Pacific Northwest. “My father, 60 years ago, was still getting his head bashed in on the riverbanks,” says Nisqually Chairman Willie Frank III, son of treaty rights activist Billy Frank Jr.
The feature-length documentary “Fish Wars” highlights the violent struggle faced by Indigenous nations to exercise their treaty-protected right to harvest salmon in the Pacific Northwest. “My father, 60 years ago, was still getting his head bashed in on the riverbanks,” says Nisqually Chairman Willie Frank III, son of treaty rights activist Billy Frank Jr. Courtesy photo

‘Fish War’

“Fish War” — screening Saturday, April 19, in Olympia — is a 2024 documentary about Washington’s tribes’ fight to reclaim their right to fish for salmon using traditional methods. To judge by the trailer, “Fish War” is packed with action. The screening — sponsored by the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission, Salmon Defense and the Olympia Film Society — happens at 7 p.m. at the Capitol Theater, 206 Fifth Ave. SE, Olympia, with doors opening at 6. There’ll be a post-film Q&A with Willie Frank III (Nisqually), Kadi Bizyayeva (Stillaguamish), Lisa Wilson (Lummi) and Kelly Susewind, director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. Tickets are $13.25-$16.25.

After visiting the Norway Day website, freelance writer Molly Gilmore needs to find something to eat. She talks with DJ Kevin the Brit about what’s happening around town on KGY-FM’s “Oly in a Can,” airing at 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Fridays.

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