Halmstad Gillet

June 1, 2012 by megalagom 3 Comments

Last week was the “Halmstad Gillet 2012” which was filled with events and activities all around town. (Gillet means Guild or Feast) It was the first year for the event, which brought art, culture, music, and crafts together. There were plays, singing, and dancing near the library one day, a flea market in “Lilla torg” another day, there were tents filled with hand crafted goods in Norre Park over the weekend. All of the performances were done by high school (Gymnasium) students. There was a lot of different art work on display. Sit in the workshop tent and learn how to craft different things with all sorts of materials. You could paint your own Raku (Japanese tea cup), which would be burned for you to bring home. Or just sit back and enjoy a picnic on the lawn while listening to the music. One of the days all the local stores were welcome to bring items outside and sell infront of their shops, most with discounts. There were games, activities, and balloon animals for children. And best of all, sweet food to eat: Waffles, grilled meat, donuts, candy, roasted nuts, and more.

It was a nice change of pace, to have something different to look at each day. We shopped at the fleamarket and I spent a lot of time browsing the handcrafted area. The only things we bought were roasted almonds and a donut each, resisting the urge to spend lots of money on earrings or iron candle sticks. There were metal smiths, jewelry makers, clothing, hand blown glass, wooden house decorations, and much more. Its always interesting and inspiring to see what people can create. It all made me start looking into crafting classes, which would be fun. Mostly it was refreshing to see so many people enjoying the festivities.

If people reviewed the Gillet positively then it will be an annual event, I for one think it is a nice mid-spring addition! Its always nice to have something new to do! (Especially if the weather is nice, which thankfully it was) Being a smaller sized town, i think events like these are perfect. The only thing is since it is spread out over 6 days in five different parts of the town, it didn’t seem as exciting as if it were only a one or two day event to look forward to and not want to miss.