Nordic Fest Board President: Thorough planning plus beautiful weather equalled a successful overlap of Nordic Fest and RAGBRAI

Planning for Nordic Fest is always a big task, but planning for this year's Fest required taking it to a whole new level due to the overlap of RAGBRAI.

Nordic Fest Board President Laurie Meinholz says she is very pleased with how well the two events meshed. "Everything was already set up and in place for Nordic Fest, so we added a RAGBRAI committee to focus on making sure everything was taken care of.  Everything went really well -- almost seamless."

Although the numbers are not in yet regarding the amount of money brought into Decorah between the two large events, it seems safe to assume the totals will be staggering.

Meinholz says it's difficult to gauge how many people attended Nordic Fest, since it's not a ticketed event, but she suspects larger than normal numbers this year due to RAGBRAI and the beautiful weather.  Numbers are available for the Kanolopet and the Elvelopet since both events require registration.  Kanolopet numbers were the same as last year, but Elvelopet numbers were significantly lower -- 460 this year, compared to about 600 in 2016.