In August 1985, the idea of having a fall festival was brought up at a Rutland Community Club meeting. Bill Anderson, Kathy Brakke and Milton and Danene McLaen had been to the Decorah, Iowa, Nordic Fest a couple of times and suggested that a one-day, small-scale version of the Nordic Fest could be the pattern for Rutland’s Fall Festival. That same month Carrol Juven of Fargo was contacted to find out if any Scandinavian type entertainment could be arranged for the event. He had a Swedish group, Nils Hakan and His Orchestra, scheduled to tour North Dakota in October. This schedule fit in perfectly with plans for the fest and the date was set for October 12th. A catchy name for the event was still missing, but Greg Donaldson, a local businessman, came up with Uffda Day and the name caught on.

In 1985, Rutland served eight Scandinavian foods, had children’s games, hay rides, demonstrated pioneer crafts and had an arts and crafts sale. The Swedish Band performed during a beef barbeque and sweet corn roast supper and, then again, at the dance at 9 p.m. Entry to the dinner and dance was $5.00 per person with advance sale tickets including the dance. The event was deemed successful. Unfortunately, we have been unable to locate any written reports or summaries of the first celebration. “Uffda Day was discussed and evaluated” at the November Rutland Community Club meeting and “several suggestions were made.”

This column will be part of a series on the history of Uffda Day in Rutland in recognition of the upcoming 40th and final Uffda Day in Rutland. There will be a selection of photos and information from several, if not all, of our previous Uffda Day events on display this year. Thanks to the records of Bill Anderson, Kathy Brakke, and photos taken by Ron Narum, and other reports, the history of the event can be documented.