Thousands crowded the streets of Ballard for the 17th of May Festival Syttende Mai parade last Sunday. Norwegian flags flew in the hands of spectators and waved like cod tails behind vintage vehicles cruising before the whooping throng. Children cried, “Hipp, hipp, hurra!” Bunaders were brandished. Pirates screamed. Lutefisk was eaten with the zeal and exorbitance only observed in typical Scandinavian stoicism; not at cringe was seen in the crowd after every delightful bite of the fish.

Indeed. The celebration turns up 20,000 people every year and is the largest Norwegian Independence Day party second to Oslo. The annual tradition started in Ballard in 1974.

The procession started at the corner of NW 62nd Street and 24th Avenue NW and followed NW Market Street past Bergen Place Park to Ballard Avenue. Crowds lined the streets and showed up hours before the spectacle in hopes of planting a prime seat to watch the Norwegian showing.

This year the honoree marshals were Thorhild Widvey, Kristine Leander and Jay Haavik.

Wivey came all the way from Oslo where she serves as the Minister of Culture and has since 2013. She was also Norway’s State Secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Minister of Petroleum and Energy.

Leander serves as Executive Director of the Swedish Club in Seattle. She has worked extensively to produce replicas of Seattle’s statue of Leif Erikson for gift presentation to Trondheim, Brattahlid, Newfoundland, Greenland and Canada.

Haavick is a professional artist and woodcarver. He designed the Bergen Place granite plaque, and was selected by the Oseberg Ship Foundation to be the lead carver in the making of a replica of Oseberg Viking ship, which is an exhibit at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.

The Honorary Grand Marshal was Prof. Rolf Grankvis. Grankvist was a professor and dean at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim from 1980-1996, and dean emeritus and from 1997-2005. He is now a professor emeritus there.

The parade produced a good showing, but the festivities are not through just yet.

This Friday May 22, his Majesty, King Harald V of Norway, will visit Seattle and is planning a special visit to Ballard. King Harald will dedicate the recently refurbished Bergen Place Park mural at 4:15 p.m. Mayor Ed Murray will be there to greet the king.

King Harald dedicated the mural 20 years ago, and Harald’s father, King Olav V, dedicated the park in 1975. While in Washington King Harald will also receive an Honorary Doctorate from Tacoma’s Pacific Lutheran University during its 125th anniversary commencement ceremony.