| Hello Dave.
I'm from ballard. Know it like the back of my hand. It has a large\
number of swedes, norwegians, danes, and some 'landics.
There is a big lutfisk eating contest every year. Lot's of
coomla and rummegot. Excuse my spelling if you would.
We even have yulekaka every year.
There is a large fishing fleet that makes it's home in ballard.
Salmon and crabs fishers mostly. More bottom fishers on the way
though.
The strong scandinavian influence you noticed was the lutefisk.
There are more johnson's, jensen's, swanson's and swenson's in
ballard than you can shake a stick at.
Uff Da,
Jim McKinnon
DTN 540 1094
|
| From: [email protected] (Robert Jacobson)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Date: 19 Sep 1993 18:54:10 GMT
Organization: WORLDESIGN, Seattle
Seattle's "Ballard" neighborhood is famous (or infamous) as the final
resting place of retired Norwegians. The neighborhood used to be a
Norwegian fishing village composed of Norskers who hopped, skipped, and
jumped over Minnesota (too cold!) to discover Puget Sound and all the
fish.
Today, Ballard is part of Seattle but it retains a special flavor, like
signs in Norwegian apologizing for street repairs, etc. The physical
center of the neighborhood is a blue-awning-covered corner called
Bergen Place, upon which fly the flags of Norway (and Sweden, Iceland,
Denmark, Finland, and the U.S. -- acknowledging that there are others
of us here) and from which the Norwegian Ambassador annually reviews
the Sytende Mai parade: 3 hours of Sons of Norway chapters and related
tribes.
Ballard, by the way, retains its 1950s qualities and is the venue for
perhaps the best folk and avant-garde music in Seattle. It's where our
firm, Worldesign, is developing virtual worlds applications...
definitely a strange mix of influences! With lutefisk for Jul.
|