The Dairy Hall

"Oh, how I thought that hall was large and magnificent!"

The hall belonged to Alvdal Dairy and was built above the dairy's first floor. The dairy was completed in 1921, and the hall was built a couple years later. It was primarily built as a meeting place for the dairy, but also because the village needed a large gathering venue. Here there were bazaars and Christmas tree parties, award ceremonies where 'nimble Alvdalers swept in prizes and trophies', and theater performances on the hall's decorated stage. However, the board was not enthusiastic about dance parties, as there was noise and fighting at these events, and dancing could lead to the walls sliding out. From 1952, there was a municipal cinema in the Dairy Hall, and the film Freske Fraspark had its world premiere here in August 1963. When Alvdal Community House was completed in 1965, the Dairy Hall was closed for events. Later, the Dairy Hall was used, among other things, as a production location for small scale industry and as a rehearsal room for Alvdal School Band. Reidar Måna Eiendom AS has owned the building since 2004.

"Outside the Dairy Hall, in thirty degrees of frost, Santa Claus waited for cues. When that guy knocked on the door, it became silent in the hall. Up among the rows of benches he came with winter in his coat. The kids screamed and scampered away. But inside the coat there was a generous guy who scattered hard-frozen oranges around him."

Thorleifsen, Magne m.fl, Alvdal Meieri 1895-1995, Østlandsmeieriet (1996)