Astoria Nordic Heritage Park

06/18/2026

We agree. Try to come back after dark when the lights are on. The Nordic Park is magical. Thank you, Cannery Pier, for your support at the beginning and continuing.

When staying at Cannery Pier Hotel & Spa, don’t miss a visit to Astoria Nordic Heritage Park, where history, culture, and scenic beauty come together just minutes away.

06/14/2026

Pennsylvanians from the American Jazz river cruise ship enjoyed the phenomenal weather on the waterfront and looking for the six trolls in the Nordic Park. (The trolls continue to be popular with all ages!) The Pennsylvanians found the QR code that leads to the Troll Tales online and plan on reading them with their grandchildren. Welcome to Astoria!

06/13/2026

Heritage Story from June 3-newsletter, Part 5:

Lou Ann feels that certain elements of her personality come from being Norwegian. Her favorite troll in the Nordic Park is Leif because he’s the one in nature and nature is important to her too. “It feels right” to Lou Ann to maintain and share her Nordic traditions. Lou Ann organizes an army of volunteers from all around the community and beyond to assist in lefse making every spring. She says it’s important and fun to continue this tradition as long as the volunteers keep showing up.

Another Norwegian tradition Lou Ann maintains at home is to bake an odd number of cookie varieties in December and to share them with friends and family. Last Christmas she made over 400 dozen!

Astoria still feels like home to Lou Ann. It was a good place to grow up because there was a mix of people in the community and it was good to be exposed to a cross section of society. Lou Ann’s daughter and family live in Astoria and she visits often to see them and her grandchild. Her “happy place” is on top of the Astoria Column where she worked one summer for the Chamber of Commerce. Lou Ann remembers “old Astoria” but she likes seeing younger generations being curious about the Nordic heritage and history of the area. It’s a good sign when the newcomers adopt the traditions of the past like working hard and being caring and supportive. The town is changing and Lou Ann sees the Astoria Nordic Heritage Park on the waterfront as honoring the past while being part of “thoughtful change.”

Meet Lou Ann in person at the Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival June 19, 20, & 21 at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. She's the one selling lefse!

06/12/2026

These are the guys and gal who keep the loo operational at the Nordic Park. Thank them in person when you see them at work.

Happy Friday from the hardest working Parks Maintenance Crew on the North Coast!

06/12/2026

Heritage Story from the June e-newsletter, Part 4:

Lou Ann’s favorite feature in the Nordic Park is the Gateway Arch because “it is beautiful both day and night.” She feels the Nordic Park is important because it represents the strong Nordic heritage of the community and showcases Nordic pride. She especially likes the central location of the Nordic Park and that it is on the water.

Lou Ann is eternally grateful to the volunteers and donors who made the Nordic Park happen. Lou Ann was a supporter herself and her family heritage is honored with border plaques for her parents, herself, and her husband who passed in 2021, and an icon panel honoring her grandparents.

To be continued...

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Meet Lou Ann in person at the Sons of Norway booth and the Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival June 19, 20, & 21 at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds. Don't forget to buy lefse!

06/10/2026

Heritage Story Lou Ann Thorsness, Part 3:

Lou Ann graduated from Astoria High School in 1974 and was Senior Miss Norway that same year. In 1972 she played clarinet in the Astoria High School Band lead by Jim Hansen that toured Europe and brought her to Norway for the first time. She returned to Norway in 1973 to attend a four-week long Sons of Norway language camp south of Oslo.

Lou Ann wears a bunad (Norwegian folk dress) that is fifty-five years old and has been shared with many family members. Pieces of it were gifted by family friend Jane Clark who had been given the pieces by her family in Norway. The solje (Norwegian broach worn at the neck) is from her grandmother. Lou Ann’s daughter Erika wore the bunad when she was Senior Miss Norway in 2006.

To be continued...
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Meet Lou Ann in person at the Sons of Norway booth at the Midsummer Festival, June 19, 20, & 21, at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds.

06/08/2026

More about the Heritage Story of the lefse Queen Lou Ann from the June e-newsletter, Part 2:

Lou Ann is a retired pharmacist currently residing in Salem who also owns her parents’ home in Astoria and visits often. Her father built the house with his father’s help when he returned from World War II. Lou Ann’s grandparents, Andrew and Marie Thorsnes, immigrated independently from Norway to the Midwest in 1905. They married in Minnesota in 1910 and moved to Astoria in 1911. Her grandfather was a builder and then opened a glass shop that her father Frank took over later. He’s the one who added the second “s” to the family name.

To be continued...
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Meet Lou Ann in person at the Sons of Norway booth at the Midsummer Festival, June 19, 20, & 21, at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds.

06/06/2026

Will there be lefse at the Astoria Scandinavian Midsummer Festival June 19, 20, & 21, at the Clatsop County Fairgrounds? Ya, sur, you betcha. Lou Ann Thorsness and volunteers are making sure it happens.

From the ANHP June e-newsletter, Part 1:

Lou Ann Thorsness is an Astoria native known in the local North Coast Nordic community as the Lefse Queen. Without her fine organizing skills, there might not be homemade Hardanger lefse at the Sons of Norway booth at the Midsummer Festival every June and people would miss it immensely. Lou Ann says it’s pure joy for her to watch people enjoy the food memories of familiar treats from their childhood and to watch visitors experience the joy of lefse for the first time.

To be continued...
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06/03/2026

Open 24/7. Be sure to visit both day and night.

06/02/2026

The June e-newsletter is now out. Message us to subscribe or read the newsletter at this link:

The Lower Columbia Preservation Society is offering Astoria Historic District Walking Tours Sundays from Mother’s Day through mid-October. The 90-minute walking tour begins at the Astoria Nordic Heritage Park and winds through downtown to the Flavel House Museum, exploring Astoria’s archite...