Storsjöyran

Storsjöyran or just Yran (literal meaning: The Great Lake Giddy Festival) is an annual Swedish musical event going back to the early sixties.

Festival history

The festival was started in honor of the ancient can-do spirit of the people of Jämtland and to show the rest of Sweden that although this region is sparsely populated, its people have the zest, courage and knowledge to create a festival of international size and standard. A goal which they have reached by gathering around 55,000 visitors every year, and it being the second-biggest festival in Sweden (the biggest city festival in Sweden). The festival is held in the middle of Östersund the last weekend of July. Although the event starts the weekend before with the opening of Krogstråket, when regional bars and restaurants gather near the lake.

Jämtland is a self-proclaimed republic (started by the people behind the festival) and has its own president, Ewert Ljusberg, who at precisely midnight on Saturday appears in front of 25,000 people at the town square to deliver his annual speech on the topic of freedom, humanity and solidarity, though the speech usually contains some anti-Swedish government and anti-EU propaganda as well. The president's entrances are usually quite spectacular. In 1996 he rode in on a seven-ton elephant, in 1999 he entered in a huge air balloon that landed at a house roof on the square, and in 2000 he surfed over the crowd to the stage. After his speech the crowd sings the Jamtlandic anthem: "Så tåga vi tillsammans bort" or as it is known in Jamtlandic: "Mæ går på stigom å leit oss opp". Though the Swedish (and original) version of the song is the one that's usually sung.