A Herring Party

The first weekend in August is a three day weekend (as the Monday is a national holiday), and is full of live with all sorts of festivals happening all over the place. One of them is the Herring Festival.

The Herring Festival takes place each Verslunarmannahelgi at Siglufjörður, a small town in the north of Iceland. The festival is well known among Icelanders and deeply rooted in the society.

This weekend, Siglufjördur residents commemorate the period from 1900 to around 1970 when Siglufjördur was the main herring town of the world, and thousands of male and female workers worked in the herring industry. There was a sort of Klondike gold town mentality dominating the town. The population rose in a short time to a number comparable to the population of a large town by Icelandic standards and everywhere there was a feeling of excitement and vitality. 

The festival is family friendly and has a great variety of entertainment and activities, such as a circus, many concerts with some of the biggest names in music in Iceland, as well as less known local musicians, poetry, and of course, herring.

It doesn’t hurt that this festival takes place in one of the most charming towns in Iceland. Siglufjörður is a truly beautiful place to visit.

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