By Melanie Stegner

news@pctribune.com

The 2022 Lefse Dagen celebration at the Starbuck Depot and Museum was a roaring success last weekend. This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the depot’s grand opening. Visitors and residents turned out in full force to share in the activities. 

This year’s event was extra special as it was the Grand Opening of the Lefse Hall of Fame. Joyce Wahlquist and Audrey Amundson, who were both in attendance to the record-breaking event in 1983, were on hand to do the ribbon cutting. This section of the depot features a compilation of lefse-making traditions that have been shared from family to family. Each exhibit can include stories, photos and artifacts of lefse-making memories from all over the globe. 

The Lefse King, Gary Legwold, was there to commemorate the creation of the world’s largest lefse. He also had a booth offering his lefse accessories and tools. He featured handmade wooden lefse-making tools as well as “cozies,” made to keep your lefse warm and fresh. Legwold has written several books, which were also available at the celebration. One of his books, “The Last Word on Lefse,” features a whole chapter dedicated to the historic event in Starbuck.

In typical Norwegian fashion, there was food available. Tom’s Market donated cakes to the hall of fame opening that was served by the Miss Minnewaska royalty. Several lefse enthusiasts were on hand to serve the Scandinavian treats. The young women also received lessons on making lefse. 

There was a station set up inside the depot for spectators to learn to roll and turn their own lefse. (Take it from this reporter, it’s not as easy as it sounds. My most legendary piece of lefse came out in the shape of Minnesota). 

Rømmegrøt is another crowd favorite at Lefse Dagen. It’s a Norwegian dish comparable to a porridge. It contains sour cream, whole milk, wheat flour, butter and salt. Varme Pølse was on the menu as well. It’s simply lefse wrapped around meat.

Live music by Jackson Burns was provided outside of the Depot during the event as were several vendors. The Starbuck Beautification Committee did some fundraising selling plants and flowers. There were jams and jellies offered and plenty of reminiscing. 

“Thank you to all that supported the day by visiting or lending a helping hand to make it possible. It really was a great success. The grand opening of the Starbuck Depot and Museums was 30 years ago and it is still a work in progress that is important to the community and is also another reason to visit Starbuck,” said Blaine Pederson. 

Check out more photos in our photo gallery!