Bradford Era — “Välkommen. It’s a great weekend to be a Swede.”

The words of Bill Keesler echoed through the halls of St. Matthew’s Lutheran Church during the opening ceremonies of the 2015 Mount Jewett Swedish Festival on Friday evening as attendees at this year’s festival prepared to “get their Swede on” in a sort of Christmas in August with the theme “A Small Town Swedish Christmas.”

Festival committeeman Tom Geer welcomed everyone to this year’s festival, then led the crowd in singing the national anthems of the United States and of Sweden. The committee put a lot of hard work into overhauling the ride selection at this year’s event by putting in more rides geared for older children, said Geer.  Read More