Per Spelman Had a Cow

An Interactive Music & History Program Featuring Arna Rennan

Many know the folk song about Per Spelman, who traded his only cow for a fiddle. In this music and history program musician Arna Rennan will tell the tale of the real person behind the song.

Many Midwesterners know the folk song about Per Spelman, a man who traded his only cow for a fiddle. In this interactive music and history program especially suitable for elementary school children, musician Arna Rennan will tell the tale of the real person behind the song. Meet Per Spelman, a legendary traveling fiddle player and shoemaker who lived on a small farm named Kringelhaugen in Boeverdalen and had 19 children, many of whom immigrated to the Midwest. Through pictures, folk songs and stories about Per Spelman and others like him, Arna will delve into who immigrated and why, exploring questions that go deeper than poverty and lack of opportunity.  This program is offered free-of-charge thanks in part to funding from the Minnesota Arts & Cultural Heritage Fund. 

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