Last 7 Entries of the Lindsborg Archive | Main
We went up to Coronado Heightslate this afternoon with the intention of taking photos of the many different flowers in bloom. We saw George and Chris on the way up, and once we got to the top found many folks were enjoying the pleasant summer day.
It was a bit windy, so most of my photos were too blurry to use, but there were a few that turned out ok. My favorites are the 3 middle photos:
Larger versions available at my Flickr August Flowers set.
Here are some photos taken in the late afternoon and early evening of a nice summer day.
Interestingly, these photos were taken almost 2 years after I posted a set of damselfly photos; guess it's that time of year, as the first photos from today feature dragonflies.
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We were heading south of town after shooting the dragonflies at Lakewood Park in Salina and came across a few guinea hens so I pulled over and grabbed some quick pictures.
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We picked up some bbq and decided to eat supper at Coronado Heights. Naturally, I took a few pictures, including a panorama made from 6 separate images.
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As usual, you're invited to view my Flickr August Day set for more photos from today, all available in a variety of sizes.
Irv Gordon and his multi-million mile Volvo were in Lindsborg recently as the Volvo Car Club held its annual gathering in conjunction with Lindsborg's Midsummer's celebration last June. Juliana found this press release and I wanted to pass it along; Lindsborg is in some good company in this listing! Here's the quote about Lindsborg; the full article follows below the fold:
Lindsborg, Kan. (a.k.a. Little Sweden) "Lindsborg is a real taste of Sweden hidden 150 miles west of Kansas City. The town is beautiful, neat as a pin and the townsfolk are just as friendly as can be. Swedish pancakes and other specialties are served in almost every restaurant in town. Swedish Midsommer celebrations with Swedish folk dancing take place in June each year. Don't forget to stop by the bison ranch nearby and check out the wildlife."
On Friday, we attended Lindsborg's theater under the stars, Broadway RFD. This year's show was State Fair, the charming musical by Rogers and Hammerstein featuring the adventures of the Frake family as they seek fame and love at the 1946 Iowa State Fair.
I have to admit I was a bit skeptical about this choice, but within moments of the show's beginning I found myself totally captivated! I forgot how much I enjoy musicals, plus the actors' performances were uniformly very strong; to single out any one cast member would beunfair to the others, though I do have to comment on how hilarious the judge was. She cracked up the audience with her rendition of a judge who greatly enjoyed the mincemeat that contained Pa's (and Ma's) special ingredient, brandy.
Broadway RFD is the longest running outdoor theater in Kansas and celebrates its 50th anniversary next year with the classinc musical, Annie Get Your Gun.
I took almost 200 photos, but given the low light levels, many of them turned out blurry or very blurry. The best have been posted here: Flickr Broadway RFD set, and I've also created a Broadway RFD photo slide show for your enjoyment.
A baker's dozen of my favorites are shown below:
Lindsborg celebrated Midsummer's yesterday, and a great time was had by all. As previously reported, the format changed quite a bit for this year; the result was a pleasing mix of old and new!
The new layout in the park, the booths representing various aspects of traditional Swedish village life, and of course the wonderful Swedish dancing, all made for one of the best Midsummer's celebrations I've attended.
On the photography front, this year turned out much better than last year. Though I took around 1,000 photos last year, I was disappointed with most of them, and only published a handful.
This year's results speak for themselves; the 15 shown below were chosen from the set of 80 I posted on Flickr, and those were the best of the 178 that made the first cut, chosen from 784 total images.
Using Adobe Lightroom, it's taken me about 5-7 hours to sort, process (crop, straighten, color balance), convert to jpeg and publish to Flickr and my web sites. Well worth it, I might add. I love trying to capture a fun event like Midsummer's and then sharing it with the world.
Susan and Becky did a tremendous job in leading the team this year, as we pulled off one of the best Midsummer's in recent memory!
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Traditional manly dance.
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Swedish dancers.
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Swedes love their coffee!
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More Swedish dancers.
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I just love the dance with the flower covered hoops!
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More of the hoop dance.
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Wheee!!
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The Swedish dancers continue to be the highlight of Midsummer's for me.
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The dancers head to Sweden soon after Midsummer's; think they look excited?
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A master at work.
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Main street even had a Maypole this year.
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Midsummer's isn't complete without the traditional Maypole raising ceremony.
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Leading the charge. The live musical accompaniment provided by these local musicians adds greatly to the days' proceedings.
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The frog dance, a humorous dance made more fun by the audience's participation. Even the bishop is in the mood.
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It's hard to believe we've come this far since our first Midsummer's committee meeting in January, but Lindsborg will be celebrating Midsummer's this weekend, Saturday June 21st.
You can visit our Midsummer's Day web site for more information, and a PDF of the full-color, 8 page program is available:
I've been involved with 4 Midsummer's celebrations and this year promises to be one of the best ever! Quoting from a recent Midsummer's press release:
Festival organizers have dramatically changed the festival this year with new events and activities intended to embrace the community's Swedish heritage and to involve guests and participants more intimately in the celebration.
Visitors can enjoy the magic of summer by stepping into a quaint Swedish village, which features artisans' shops, settlers' homes, artists and craftsmen's studios, a storyteller's den, and a homemaker's kitchen. They can absorb as well as observe. For example, the Svenska Vänskaps Gruppen (Swedish Friendship Group) will welcome casual visitors, explaining traditions, customs, and folklore handed down over generations - even helping them learn Swedish phrases.
Finally, to further get you in the mood for Midsummer's this weekend, here's a few photos from Midsummer's past:
Press the "reload/refresh" button in your browser to see a different set of photos. You can also view more photos of Midsummers in Lindsborg from years gone by.
We had severe weather in the area last night, though thankfully nothing more than a little hail and high winds hit Lindsborg. To the north of us Salina and Chapman both both experienced some damage due to the storms.
The clouds that preceded the storm were among the most unusual I've ever seen or photographed, and my friend who lives north of Lindsborg also took some great pictures, including some of a wall cloud.
Here are some of my favorites, and there's a bunch more on Flickr.
