Rhea Landholm, brand marketing and communications manager, [email protected], 402.687.2100 ext 1025
OAKLAND, NEBRASKA - The newest addition to Center for Rural Affairs’ Byway of Art project, Lycka Till, will make its debut on Saturday, June 3, at 7 p.m. in Oakland, Nebraska, during the community’s annual Swedish Festival. The event is free.
Lycka Till, a usable art piece, is a mobile stage with a backdrop of Swedish row homes. It will be dedicated before a performance of “Ole’s Last Bow,” a musical based on a true story of Ole Ivverson, one of the last Swedish vaudeville performers.
Oakland was among four northeast Nebraska communities chosen to participate in the Byway of Art, a community-driven public art project that celebrates Nebraska’s rural towns, administered by the Center for Rural Affairs.
“The first step was to bring folks together in an outdoor living room setting where people just talked about Oakland,” said Kathie Starkweather, Center for Rural Affairs’ Farm and Community program director. “From that conversation, an idea for the community art project was born.”
Residents agreed on a project they felt captured their Swedish heritage.
“After much discussion, the community art piece was named the Lycka Till – a fitting name for the purpose of this piece,” Starkweather said. “Lycka Till is a Swedish term that means ‘good luck’ or ‘break a leg.’”
“We know the community is excited and proud of this artistic accomplishment,” said Deb Anderson, local organizer of the project. “Thank you, Center for Rural Affairs for this opportunity to showcase arts and culture in Oakland.”
Three Byway of Art projects are now complete. Two previous projects were launched in 2015 – a Storefront Theater in Lyons that won a national award in 2016 for “compelling public art” and a trolley car that serves as a small event venue in Decatur.
For more information, visit cfra.org.
