The annual Norse West Viking Festival will return to Yelm’s Cochrane Memorial Park on Saturday and Sunday Sept. 9-10. The free event aims to teach those in attendance different Norse Viking crafts and activities and welcomes families to join the event for a day of activities.
Captain Bill Koutrouba, of the Norse West Vikings group, said anywhere between 6,000 to 10,000 “Vikings” attended the weekend festival in 2022. This year’s event is set to feature forging demonstrations and discussions, horseback jousting, trebuchet, skinning, mead making and weaving classes, spear throwing, archery, hair braiding, prizes and much more.
“We try to make it different from the Renaissance Fair. It’s more geared toward Norse stuff, and what Norse people did during those times, not Vikings,” Koutrouba said. “Viking is a verb. It means to go apirating. It’s not a creed. It’s not a religion. It’s just a verb that means Norse people go pirating. We’re an equal race activity. We want everyone to come out and see what we’re about.
“The festival is just the start, and people ask if there’s an organization in Yelm that does this,” Koutrouba added. “Yes, it’s called the Orms Viking Kindred, that meets here. We teach forging, skinning of animals, tanning of animals. We just did a bear, and everyone got involved.”
Aleta Cox, the Orms Viking Kindred secretary, said the festival will feature a mechanical bull, as well.
“When the vendor brought the idea of [mechanical] bull riding up, we were on board,” Cox said. “He said he wanted to work at a festival-type event, too. I said, though bull riding isn’t exactly Viking, we could make it happen. How much of a Viking are you if you can’t ride a bull?”
She added that the community reception about the mechanical bull has been positive, and that it is a welcome addition to the festival.
Koutrouba added that, after all, Yelm is a cowboy town so the mechanical bull will fit right in.
“Norse West Viking festival is becoming bigger,” Cox said. “Every year we’ve gotten bigger since we first started in Rainier. We’ve had to go to a larger venue.”
The 2023 event is at Cochrane Memorial Park, 750 Mill Road SE. Parking will be available at Mill Pond Elementary.
Bill Sauneuf, with the Norse West Vikings, described the festival as being a “different type of Renaissance fair.”
“Norse West Viking Fest will have the ax throwing and the archery setup from Seven Sons Archery,” he said. “There will be sword fighting in two different formats, Viking style and buhurt. There will be vendor booths and so much more. As a dad with a 14-year-old, there’s not a lot to do in Yelm. The Viking Fest is a weekend a year, and it’s always been a good time. They get to do many different activities, maybe dress up as a Viking and enjoy the festival itself.”
Tim Cass, one of the Norse West Viking Festival’s organizers, described the festival as a fun, family-oriented activity. He and his wife, Genevieve, participate in several different demonstrations and activities, including leather work.
“What does the activity bring to the city? My question would be what did the mermaid fest bring to Yelm. What did all of these other parades bring to Yelm? The Prairie Days event, all community involvement. The barbecue rally, community involvement. Our event is based on community involvement, too,” Tim Cass said. “The festival is a gathering of many, many people. There isn’t anything R-rated. Sure, there’s a little bit of violence that goes on, but it’s all controlled chaos.”
Genevieve Cass added that participants in the past have enjoyed different Viking-style artisan crafts throughout the park. These activities included skinning, weaving, leather work for children and a mead class. She said those activities will return this year, and that vegetable dyeing might be a new event.
“Some of us are really into the actual stuff that Vikings actually did, beyond fighting,” she said. “Tim and I are retired and we don’t have a lot of money to play with, but families want their kids to be involved in arts and crafts. So we went and bought $300 worth of leather bracelets. It’s our own money, and we’re going to turn around and sell them at cost so these kids can do some leather work.”
She added that the Norse West Viking Festival is the only Viking festival that offers free admittance. The festival still has costs, however.
“If we had someone to pay for a bounce house, that’d be great,” Genevieve Cass said. “Kids loved it last year, but there’s other things that [cost money] like feeding volunteers. They need to be fed. There’s shirts for the volunteers, which came out of Captain Bill’s pocket. There’s insurance, Port-a-Potties, and all these other costs. There’s a lot of little costs, but they add up.”
Organizers of the festival wanted to thank the sponsors that contributed to the event, including Key Memories Photography, Napa Auto, Walt’s Point S Tires, Masonry Cafe, Tony Dayton of Veteran Lending, Bill Sauneuf of John L. Scott Realty, Ulli’s Famous Sausage of Seattle and 507 Taproom.
The Orms Viking Kindred, a nonprofit organization, will be collecting unexpired food items for local food banks at the event, as well. Donations may be dropped off at the information booth near the bridge at Cochrane Memorial Park.
Due to health and safety risks to performing animals, no dogs or pets will be allowed at the Norse West Viking Festival.
“We try to relearn what we can from our past, bring it to the present the best we can, and share with you, the public. We are not Vikings, but we are trying to bring the crafts, religion and life to share with others,” according to the Norse West Viking Festival’s website. “Our festival is about gladly sharing what we know, have learned, and are still learning. We have many crafts people demonstrating stone work, forging, sewing, weaving, carving, leather working, foods, music as well as activities for all ages, and the opportunity to purchase goods from all.”
