Four Brothers Mead in Festus will hold its fifth annual Sigurblot Viking Festival this month, and organizers encourage attendees to show up in costumes.
“I would like everyone to dress up in Old World garb,” said Dan Luck, one of the Four Brothers Mead owners, adding that if attendees don costumes, Festus will be inundated with Vikings.
Luck said between 4,000 and 5,000 people turned out for last year’s Sigurblot, a festival to celebrate warmer weather.
This year’s event is scheduled for noon to 9 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at the meadery, 124 E. Main St., and behind the business along South Second Street. Admission is free.
The Sigurblot will include Viking-themed activities, along with sales of mead and other drinks, food trucks, live music and vendors.
Luck said one of the big draws will be live, armored hand-to-hand combat demonstrations put on by the St. Louis Chapter of the Legion of Honor, an international fight club.
“We’ll have the blacksmithing again. There will be other local artisans,” he said. “We have a fire pit we use as a rest area.
“We’ll have glass-blowing. That’s new.”
He said dozens of vendors have signed up to sell their wares at the event.
“We have vendors selling Viking-themed and other items,” Luck said. “We’re looking at 60-plus vendors.”
The Festus Tourism Commission awarded a $17,500 grant to Four Brothers Mead and is one of the major event sponsors.
“I appreciate that the city of Festus allows us to have it,” Luck said. “People really seem to enjoy it. It’s just a fun event.”
For more information, visit fourbrothersmead.com or go to the Four Brothers Mead page on Facebook.