On May 18, the delicate scents of cardamom, anise and almond will emanate from Bethlehem Lutheran Church’s fellowship hall, tempting Main Street traffic to stop for “A Taste of Norway” from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Continuing its 100th year celebration, the Sons of Norway Fredraheimen Lodge has dedicated its annual Constitution Day celebration to the country’s obsession with cookies and other melt-in-the-mouth baked goodies.

According to member Sue Sande, the Norwegian addiction to traditional fare such as delicate cones of krumkaka and rosettes cannot be overstated.

“A year ago at Christmas, there was a butter shortage in Norway and it was almost a national calamity,” she said. “They had exported more than they should have and were having to beg butter from Sweden in order to do the Christmas baking.”

Gathered for a group baking session, Sande, Donna Tice and Pat Phillips prepared a sampling of the dozen or more types of cookies, some gluten-free, that members will offer at the event. There is no door charge.

“What we are going to do is have it set up like you are going into a bakery and you can purchase a cookie or two or three cookies and then you can have a cup of coffee or tea,” Tice said. “We’re not going to price items very high.”

For between 25 and 50 cents per treat, visitors may sample of the very labor-intensive delicacies of the country that exported more than a few of the pioneering families of the Flathead Valley. Those with a strong hunger may purchase an Icelandic pancake with cream and jam for $1.50.

Along with sampling the sweets and watching cooking demonstrations, people can learn about Scandinavian culture from personal artifacts of members. Tice said these may include trolls, sweaters, carvings, plates, pictures, jewelry, dolls and hardanger embroidery.

“We will have a number of different bunads, our native costumes, from various regions of the country,” she said. “Dick [Fretheim] is going to bring four krumkaka irons that he brought from Norway.”

At the baking session, Phillips poured batter into a modern electric iron that cooked a delicate sheet to a golden brown and imprinted a design pattern. She then rolled the sheet around a form to make each krumkaka.

According to Sande, the antique krumkaka irons were forged in the communal blacksmith shop with various designs.

“They often put the family crest on them,” she said.

Almond lace also exhibits a signature lacy design. Tice said she bakes the batter in the oven, flips it over and rolls the dough on a dowel for a tasty, lacy tube treat.

“It’s all [ground] almonds,” she said. “There’s just a tablespoon of flour in it.”

Sande brought a sample of Bordstabbel, which translates to “stack them on the table.” She learned from her mother how to carefully cut the dough into rectangles, then delicately apply the “pynt” topping made of egg white, powdered sugar and ground nuts (almonds, walnuts or hazel nuts).

She recalled begging her mother to make the labor-intensive cookies that looked like Lincoln logs.

“She would say. ‘Oh my God, no,’ so we didn’t make them very often,” Sande said with a laugh. “I fondly remember them because everyone had to pitch in. The family was all there helping.”

She has continued the tradition of baking with her family members, making memories with children and now grandchildren. Others such as Tice missed out on the old country traditions as their Norwegian mothers and grandmothers adopted American lifestyles.

“When I joined Sons of Norway, that’s when I got into trying the cookies,” Tice said.

Phillips said she came from English stock and never tasted Norwegian cookies until she married a Norwegian. Her mother-in-law taught Phillips to make cookies, including her signature rosettes, for her husband.

“I like to bake and he likes to eat,” she said with a smile.

In Norway, cooking baking revs up at holidays. Sande also shifts into cookie-making mania mode at Christmas.

“I grew up with my mother and my father, both sides, absolutely being committed to the mindset that you have to have seven kinds of cookies for the holidays,” she said.

In the old days, Sande said, women would get together on a weekend or a whole day to make stacks and stacks of cookies together. She said it provided a break from their hard lives but still involved work.

“It was their time away with other women, exclusively to giggle and yet work hard together in the same place,” she said.

For the “Taste of Norway,” Tice expects members to bake multiple batches of at least 12 different treats. Each will have a label so people will know what cookie they like the best.

Those who want to go a step further and learn how to make cookies should look for the Sons of Norway cookie baking class usually offered in October through Flathead Valley Community College. Members also offer a lefse cooking class in October.

“They always fill up with a waiting list,” Tice said. “We’ve had men enrolled in every single class for cookies as well as lefse. It’s wonderful. People of all ages. That means we are touching a yearning within people to preserve their culture.”

Sande said people often comment that these skills have skipped a generation. They remember a grandmother who made things but their mother didn’t and they never knew how to tap into their heritage.

A membership in the Sons of Norway provides another avenue for people of any ethnic background to learn about Scandinavian culture. The annual fee is $38 for the first member and $31 for the spouse (less $7 subscription to Viking magazine).

Lodge President Ted Seim will have applications available at the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May 18 “Taste of Norway.” For the best selection of treats, Sande recommends coming early.

“Just like a bakery, when we’re out, we’re out,” she said.

The event raises money for the lodge’s scholarship fund. Each spring, the Sons of Norway awards two $3,000 scholarships to graduating seniors and a $2,000 scholarship to a graduating Flathead Valley Community College student to continue his or her education.