All hands on deck to help Norwegian vessel ready for fair centennial

For 28 years, a centuries-old fishing boat has rested on a trailer atop a bed of dried leaves, shrouded under a canvas tent behind the Nordic Heritage Museum.

"If this boat could talk, the stories it could tell," said curator Lisa Hill-Festa, who's been with the museum 14 years. "The talk was always to restore it."

Now, if the museum gets funding, the Nordic Spirit will be revived as an educational tool and, some hope, as a mascot for the local Scandinavian community.

The goal is to get the boat in the water next summer for the centennial celebration of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition, a summerlong fair held in 1909 that promoters hoped would bring Seattle worldwide recognition.

The exposition took place on what is now the University of Washington campus, and the centennial will be celebrated throughout the region next year.

Back in 1909, a Viking boat built in Bothell crossed Lake Washington on the fair's Norway Day and was greeted by Seattle dignitaries on the fairgrounds. That boat was later destroyed. But the Nordic Spirit's supporters hope Mayor Greg Nickels will greet the boat on the dock as part of a re-enactment next summer.

A band of Nordic history and culture enthusiasts got together in May to start making it happen.

Scandinavian history buff Olaf Kvamme is excited about the possibility of an Exposition re-enactment. He's been researching the Scandinavian community's part in the Exposition for more than a year.

Stephen Edwin Lundgren is writing a work of historical fiction about the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. That's what spurred his enthusiasm for seeing the boat launched on Lake Washington.

Christine Anderson, a Norwegian dancer who is involved in several local cultural organizations, envisions the Nordic Spirit as a symbol of the local Scandinavian community.

The 35-foot-long nordlandsbåt, or "northlands boat," is estimated to be 200 years old. Originally it was a fishing boat in Norway. Volvo Penta, the Volvo subsidiary that manufactures marine engines and power systems, bought it in the 1960s and outfitted it with Viking regalia as an advertising gimmick in the United States.

It made the rounds at boat shows on the East Coast and sailed on the Delaware River in 1976, promoting Volvo Penta's marine engines, Kvamme said.

In 1980, Volvo Penta donated the boat to the Nordic Heritage Museum, and it has sat untouched in the parking lot ever since, Hill-Festa said.

Viking-boat regattas, parade and festival stops, even letting the public have a pull at the oars on Lake Washington are among ideas being bandied about by the group that's adopted the Nordic Spirit's cause.

But the first task will be making it seaworthy. Doug Dickson, a manager at Pacific Fishermen Shipyard, assessed the boat and estimated it needs about $35,000 in work. He expects the cost to be halved through volunteer labor and donated supplies. The museum is looking for grants and donations for the rest.

For Dickson, the Nordic Spirit represents a tie to both his heritage and his livelihood.

Pacific Fishermen Shipyard was founded in 1946 by 400 Norwegian-American fisherman as a place to repair their fishing vessels.

The majority of Pacific Fishermen's employees today are descendants of the original 400, Dickson said.

"Their forefathers would've fished on vessels similar to this one," Dickson said. "That's romantic."

Leslie Anne Jones: 206-464-2745 or ljones@seattletimes.com