The story
Tonder Festival in Tonder
Tonder Festival grew from a three-day folk-ballad gathering at a converted mill in June 1974 into one of Europe's most prominent folk music festivals, now drawing roughly 15,000 visitors and 2,500 volunteers to the small Jutland town each last weekend of August. A landmark 1990 appearance by Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie is widely credited with marking its rise from local hootenanny to major European festival.
Beer and folk ballads at a converted mill, nicknamed the Song Mill by the young enthusiasts who ran the first three-day gathering in June 1974, grew within a generation into one of Europe's most prominent folk music festivals, now filling the small Jutland town of Tonder each August with roughly 15,000 visitors and around 2,500 volunteers who keep the whole event running.