Scandinavia, which encompasses Iceland, Finland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway, is a land that brings to mind long winters, saunas and fair-skinned natives. But, the northern European culture is also deeply rooted in the Ballard community.

Viking Days took place July 17 and July 18 at the Nordic Heritage Museum. The festival, now in its 27th year, featured reenactments, Scandinavian food, tables lined with Nordic arts and crafts plastic sets of Viking armor and for the children.

Eric Nelson, CEO of the Nordic Heritage Museum and a third-generation Swede, said the two-day festival is a community event.

“One of the favorite stops is the Taste of Scandinavia,” Nelson said, pointing to a line of women busily producing sugary edibles. “We have a group of volunteers from each of the five countries who all prepare specialty foods. Those are all community members, most of them live in Seattle and help out at the museum.”

While the weekend attraction used to include a broader celebration of Scandinavia, it has since shifted its focus to Viking culture.

Nelson said the festival was particularly pertinent to the Ballard neighborhood.

“There are a lot of Nordics in Washington state," he said. "Certainly Ballard has been one of those central gathering places since the 1880s and 1890s. Originally, Swedes and Fins came to lumber and the Norwegians came to build ships and fish. Well, the community stuck around.”

In the last census, 10 percent of Seattleites claimed to be of Scandinavian descent, Nelson said. The city’s maritime climate parallels that of Norway, Sweden and certain regions of Denmark.

“[This festival] is especially important now," he said. "A lot of shops, like Olsen’s [Scandinavian Foods] have closed. It’s a great way to get that special nostalgic touch that means so much.”

Perhaps most popular are the Viking battles reenacted by the traveling performance group The Ravenstead Household. Bringing colorful tents and wearing period-accurate clothing, the members of Ravenstead set up camp in the museum parking lot where they showcased everything from cooking utensils to replicas of Viking weaponry.

Susan Granqurist, a member of the troupe, said she had been attending Viking days for the past 11 years.

“It requires discipline,” Granqurist said of the tedious research required to stage a reenactment. “We all have personas, and you put that persona in a specific place and time period. Your research can’t just be general. You look to see what [your character] was wearing in that time, what colors were available, etc.”

Granqurist primarily studies the history of Vikings and their early interactions with outsiders. Throughout the afternoon she worked on craft projects that would have been popular outlets in the late 900s and early 1000s. Pulling out a bag of felt balls, she explained what dyes the Vikings would have used to color their clothing and the specific technique for weaving garments.

“When we hear about the Vikings, it’s fun to pretend that they’re these wild people, running around barbaric, like where this idea that they wore horns came from," Granqurist said. "But, we don’t want to make that mistake of retro-applying what we think would be cool.”

For her, Vikings Days is a hands-on learning experience for fair-goers, she said.

Other vendors had similarly sentimental reasons for participating in the festivities. Mary Viker sold Norwegian dolls and knit placemats at one shady booth. Viker used to teach in the building now occupied by the Nordic Heritage Museum.

“When my daughter was little, everyone got dolls for gifts and doll clothes,” Viker said.

Now that her daughters are full-grown, selling the dolls has provided her with an outlet for her craft.

For those interested in further exploring Scandinavian culture, the Nordic Heritage Museum offers rotating exhibits, art and dance programs and language classes. Visit www.nordicmuseum.org for more information.