Oslo’s famed Holmenkollen Ski Jump and surrounding winter sports arenas, popularly known as “Kollen,” will be the site of the largest summer music festival in the country this year. Organizers hope 60,000 people will attend during the course of the festival weekend.
Officials at the ski association responsible for running Holmenkollen, Skiforeningen, also hope the event will bring in badly needed revenues to cover operating costs that are higher than expected. The new facilities at Holmenkollen far exceeded their original budget, various structural problems have emerged since the facilities opened, and maintenance is expensive.
So new events are needed that will generate new revenues, and among them will be the new Kollen Sommerfestival, scheduled for the last weekend in June. Promoters announced earlier this week that the festival’s two days of concerts will feature singers Rihanna and local Norwegian Sivert Høyem, along with more than 20 other performers appearing on three separate stages in and around Holmenkollen.
“We’ll have capacity for 30,000 visitors each day,” said Pål Jakobsen of Air Productions, which is backing the festival. He said weekend concerts will feature pop, rock and what he called “urban” music, and are also meant to appeal to families.
Jakobsen said no public funds were involved and he wouldn’t reveal the festival’s budget, “but I’m still sleeping well at night,” he told newspaper Aftenposten.
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