Learn more about Norway House's upcoming trip to Norway with Up Norway in February 2027: Connect with Norway's Forest Finn and Sami Past!

Online via Google Meet.

Trip Highlights include:

• An introduction to Forest Finn Culture through history, mysticism, food and sauna traditions

• Outdoor winter adventures under the Northern Lights

• Immersion in Sami living and insights in valuable lessons from the past

Learn more about Norway House's upcoming trip to Norway with Borton Overseas in December 2027: Christmastime in the Nordics!

Both in-person at Norway House or online via Google Meet.

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Our adventure begins in Bergen, where we’ll marvel at the whimsical Pepperkakebyen—the world’s largest gingerbread city—and wander through festive, harbor-side markets. In Oslo, we’ll soak up the holiday glow of twinkling stalls and even blow our own glass ornaments to bring a piece of Norwegian tradition home. We’ll crown our journey with an Icelandic stopover to chase the mesmerizing Northern Lights before indulging in the ultimate winter contrast: a restorative soak in the steamy, milky-blue waters of the Blue Lagoon.

Trip Highlights include:

• Pepperkakebyen Tour - Bergen Christmas Market

• Oslo Christmas Markets

• Glass Blowing

• Reykjavik - Northern Lights Hunt

• Golden Circle

• Blue Lagooon

The Twin Cities Ukulele Club performs classic American sing-along tunes for an entertaining hour.

Why are Nordics so happy? Because they appreciate ukuleles and sing-alongs! Join the fun - listen, sing, or bring your own ukulele.

Norway House is happily hosting members of the Twin Cities Ukulele Club during our Hygge Happy Hour. Enjoy a BOGO glass of beer or wine, a charcuterie plate, and a lot of fun music. They will be playing a lot of songs you know, so don't be shy. Sing along!

Come take a break from the lake and paint one! Guests will receive wooden boards onto which we will paint some of our favorite MN lakes!

Lake options: 

• BDE MAKA SKA

• CEDAR LAKE

• LAKE HARRIET

• LAKE OF THE ISLES

• FOREST LAKE

• GULL LAKE

• LAKE MILLE LACS

• LAKE MINNETONKA

• LAKE NOKOMIS

• PRIOR LAKE

• RED LAKE

• LAKE SUPERIOR

• WHITE BEAR LAKE

• WOMAN LAKE

If you don't see your favorite lake from our options, we got you covered! We can even print custom text for you.

Email jordan@minnewitchcrafts.com for custom designs. Please allow up to 24 hours in advance just to allow enough time for custom accomodations.

Norway House Members: $25

General Admission: $30

Norwegian children's language teacher, Kari Stern, leads a special session of Barnehage, a Norwegian language program for pre-schoolers.

Two-to-four year olds and their parents or guardians craft, read, sing, and play in Norwegian. Kari uses a children's book to set the theme and children get to hear, speak, read, and create art using the language.

July's Barnehage book is: Tassen på Sirkus (Paw at the Circus)! Follow Paw the dog during his adventures at the circus—på norsk!

Norway House Members: $25

General Registration: $30

The price is per family, so if you have more than one two-to-four-year-old in the family, you may all attend for one price.

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Kari teaches Barnehage, children's language class in Norwegian, each semester for 12 weeks at Norway House. Her special Saturday classes are an opportunity for children in Barnehage to have greater exposture to the language.

If you want your child to learn Norwegian, but were uncertain about classes, the Saturday Barnehage is wonderful opportunity to see how fun learning a language can be.

Ingrained: Stories Carved in Wood explores woodwork from the late 17th to early 19th centuries—a period when wood became the primary medium in Northern Europe used to express identity, belief, and skill.

Techniques like chip carving, pyrography, and painted rosemaling were more than decoration; they were how craftspeople signed their voice into the wood, shaped by their region, their family traditions, and the tools passed down to them.

A dowry chest spoke of a marriage. A ritual bowl spoke of a harvest. A carved symbol above a doorway was a wish for safety, prosperity, or protection from what couldn't be seen.

Ingrained gathers these stories from the countryside and homes of Scandinavia, spanning the late 17th to early 19th centuries. The pieces on display—storage chests, bridal gifts, ale bowls, and decorative furnishings—reveal a culture that didn't separate the useful from the beautiful. To the people who made and used these objects, an item could be both at once: a bowl to hold ale, and a story to hold a blessing.

Ingrained is possible through the donation of artifacts from the collection of Bill Wangensteen to Norway House. On view for the first time, we invite you to read these objects the way their makers intended—not simply as folk artifacts, but as a visual language, carved with intention, and carried forward through hand, heart, and heritage.

Opening Reception: 5:00PM–8:00PM

Program: 6:00PM

Velkomst (Welcome) drink provided with ticket purchase. NA available.

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Norway House Members: $5.00

General Admission: $10.00

Respected political journalist Lori Sturdevant will speak on her most recent book, Martin Sabo: The Making of the Modern Legislature.

Best known as the US Representative of Minnesota’s Fifth District, Martin Sabo made significant contributions to American political life while serving in the Minnesota state Legislature. Martin Sabo’s early work in Minnesota state government set the mold for how state legislatures across the country have operated since and continues to wield influence today.

In the late 1960s–early 1970s, Minnesota took a giant step toward a state government that fairly represents all the state’s regions and populations and one that operates in public view. It served as an operational model for legislatures around the country.

Sabo demonstrated an understanding of representative democracy and a quality of leadership that made him a highly effective catalyst for positive change. He spent his entire adult life in public service, but it was during his years as DFL minority leader and as speaker of the Minnesota House that he did his most transformative and lasting work. Enhancing Sabo’s rich legacy, this volume focuses attention on his early career and the systemic, enduring contributions to governance he initiated.

Lori Sturdevant, whose 43-year career as a journalist for the Star Tribune and the author or editor of 13 books, will talk about Sabo’s impact, and process of researching and writing the book. There will be time for questions and discussion. Copies of Martin Sabo will be available for purchase and signing.

Lori's talk will be moderated by Bud Hayden, who describes himself as "a retired business owner that now has more time to read about history and the people who made it." He believes that the book on Martin Sabo is an example of how one person can make a difference and also provides a very good civics lesson on how to make government work better. 

Norway House Members Free; General Admission $5

Norwegian children's language teacher Kari Stern has a special class where students read, sing, dance, and do crafts in Norwegian.

Kari Stern leads a special session of Barnehage, a Norwegian language program for pre-schoolers. Two-to-four year olds and their parents or guardians read, sing, and play in Norwegian. Kari uses a children's book to set the theme and children get to hear, speak, read, and create art using the language. This month's book features ducklings having an adventure - who can resist?!

The price is per family, so if you have more than one two-to-four-year-old in the family, you may all attend for one price.

Kari teaches Barnehage, children's language class in Norwegian, each semester for 12 weeks at Norway House. Her special Saturday classes are an opportunity for children in Barnehage to have greater exposture to the language.

If you want your child to learn Norwegian, but were uncertain about classes, the Saturday Barnehage is wonderful opportunity to see how fun learning a language can be.

Join Norway House on Thursday, June 25th to welcome members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, visiting from Stortinget—Norway's Parliament.

Six members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly are visiting Minnesota to tour Norway House and other locations across the state. Three will join us on stage at Norway House for a moderated conversation on NATO, Nordic security, and the Norwegian perspective on current affairs—Sverre Myrli (Labour Party), head of the delegation, Sylvi Listhaug (Progress Party), and Trond Helleland (Conservative Party)—with the full delegation in attendance.

The discussion will be moderated by Tom Hanson, Diplomat in Residence and career Foreign Service Officer, and promises to be a rare opportunity to hear directly and ask questions from sitting legislators on the issues shaping the transatlantic alliance.

Free for Norway House Members
$5 General Admission

Happy Hour with cash bar and food available in the Kaffebar following the program, featuring live music by Peter and the Jazztronauts

The Norway House book club meets the second Thursday of every month at 1pm in the Lillehaugen Room (lower level in the Quie Education Center) at Norway House. If you enjoy reading interesting books, many with a Norwegian theme, and enjoy spirited discussions, this is the group for you!

Please see the reading list and schedule for the 2025-26 season here.

Save the Date: Wednesday, June 10.

Midtsommer has long been a time of storytelling and folklore—our way as humans to carry on knowledge, values, and morals for generations to come.

Today, that same determined spirit lives on as Norway House and Minnesota—the North Star State—continue to connect the United States with contemporary Norway. We invite you to join with us and support our mission as we turn the page to The Next Chapter for Norway House.