(printer friendly)
Bike Tour (pdf)
Parade Application (pdf)
Parade Route (pdf)
History
"With Westby being 100% Norwegian decent at one time and it still (has) many Norwegian around the area it has decided that something should be done to celebrate our heritage of the past. There were some young energetic new merchants in town who formed a promoters club. On the eve of April 22, 1969 they called a meeting of all the interested citizens of our fair city to see what could be done to add some interest here. There seemed to be a large group of citizens who were interested and that is when the May 17th celebration was born. With much work to be done there was a question of who had the time and energy to do some planning for the event so a man by the name of P.N. Rude was nominated and elected. He accepted the responsibility and right away committee were formed.
The corporation was known as the Syttende Mai Corp.
The first Syttende Mai celebration was held on May 17th 1969.
The citizens of our city became aware of the fact that Norwegian dress should be the order of the day and everyone started to make or buy outfits which would be attuned to the climate of the celebration. With our very appropriate signs at the city limits one very easily finds where the celebration would be."
Timeline
1969, May: First Festival
1969, November: Articles of Incorporation signed by Robert C. Zimmerman, Secretary of State; Promoters included P.N. Rude, D.L. Vosseteig, Mrs. Elmo Gulsvig, and J.R. Weber
1970: First Princess Royalty- Lory Knutson, Terrie Tainter, Lynn Jaeger selected out of 35 girls
1971–1975: Beginning of Flea Market, Saturday Night Dance where a street was closed for the evening, parade float included bails of hay and then a small Stabbur, barrel water fight between local firefighters, tractor pulls, rosemaling demonstrations, event goers wore skirts and vest
1976–1980: Float added staggered seats for royalty, troll hunt, carnival, kiddie parade, arts and craft show, quilt contest, cycle derby, fiddlers’ contest, camel rides, kickoff dance changed to breakfast kickoff
1981–1985: Float changed to a blue circle, event goers started wearing bunads, Borgens Café window baking demonstration
1986–2000: Cow pie bingo, kiddie tractor pulls, trolls as float escorts
2001–2006: Go-kart races, bike tour, 5k walk/run, changed trolls to be homemade
Royalty Fun