Poulsbo Had More Class Than Bill And Hillary

THE contrast was stark: the king and queen of Norway cooling their heels outside the White House - just days after Poulsbo had embraced them so warmly.

As I watched television footage of King Harald V and Queen Sonja waiting awkwardly for the Clintons to answer the White House door earlier this week, I reflected on Poulsbo's shower of adulation.

Little Poulsbo showed more class than Bill and Hillary.

When the royal couple's limousine arrived at the White House, they stepped onto a red carpet to be greeted only by two military officers.

After a few minutes, White House social secretary Ann Stock came out and escorted them inside. A few minutes later, they emerged with the president and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for pictures.

The White House said the embarrassing gaff wasn't because the Clintons were late. It was because the king and queen were early - about five minutes.

They could have come an hour early and Poulsbo would have been ready.

They don't call this lovely town on Kitsap County's Liberty Bay "Little Norway" for nothing.

Where else would the people warm up for a royal visit by eating close to a ton of lutefisk.

For the record: 1,208 people ate 1,800 pounds of the lye-soaked cod at the 82nd annual First Lutheran Church Lutefisk Dinner the weekend before. Not to mention 1,900 lefses.

Even though the cod is rinsed after being soaked in lye, some lye remains. It's always been a mystery to me how people eat that stuff and live. You could clean out a lot of sinks with 1,800 pounds of lutefisk.

When King Harald and Queen Sonja walked down Poulsbo's people-packed main street last Thursday, they were greeted by a sea of Norwegian flags.

Where else in America would streets bear their names? - King Harald Vei and Queen Sonja Vei. Where else would they be greeted by people wearing traditional red-white-and-black Norwegian costumes and horned Viking helmets?

Forget the fact that the big marquee outside New Day Fishery Fish & Chips misspelled the king's name: "Velkommen King Harold." It's the thought that counts.

Poulsbo, a town of slightly more than 5,000, looks like a Norwegian theme park.

Just 20 years and one day earlier, King Harald's father, King Olav V, visited and fell in love with the city. A parkway bears his name.

So what's a nice Finnish boy like me doing in a place like that?

I went to see Katherine The Great dance for the king and queen. That's my great-niece Katherine, daughter of Debra Hannula Browne, a Finnish-Norwegian hybrid.

It's not every day you can see a king and queen come to Poulsbo to watch Katherine the Great, who's 8. That's a royal treat.

Poulsbo's deep Norwegian roots are kept alive by about 100 children who practice and perform folk dances. The "Leikarring" range from 4 years to teenagers.

They performed for the royal couple at a gathering inside the Sons of Norway Hall to Scandinavian music by the Clover Blossom Band.

The 4-year-olds are show stoppers. Queen Sonja was tickled pink.

She couldn't refrain from laughing with glee when the red-white-and-black-clad little ones would bump into each other or step on each other's feet - as they are wont to do.

I love 'em. They are worth coming all the way from Oslo to see. Or from Helsinki for that matter.

Earl Hanson, Sons of Norway cultural director who escorted the queen through town, said she was clearly pleased by the dancers.

Hanson said the queen also was impressed by businesses with Norwegian crests and names - such as apotek for pharmacy.

Hanson said Poulsbo's population once was more than 50 percent Norwegian heritage. "It's maybe 25 percent now," he added.

King Harald said Poulsbo reminded him so much of Norway.

Clearly, the king and queen's royal treatment in Poulsbo will make them forget being stiffed for a few minutes at the White House.

Don Hannula's column appears Thursday on editorial pages of The Times.