In the beginning of The 1950s where SLU (Svenska Rurals Ungdomsförbund) a large association in Fårö. At that time, there had been long talk about building a community center or meeting room. There were many members (130) and a sufficiently large meeting room was lacking.
Everyone agreed that it should lie in the middle of Fårö. The members looked for a suitable location and after discussing a couple of different options, they decided on the current site, where the community center is located today. The land was bought for SEK 50 of Adolf Nyström. It was a suitable plot, level and good and close to the highway.
The members of SLU went around to the Fårö residents with lists so that they could sign up for materials, such as e.g. pines for sawing, or cash. The Fårö residents lined up in the near mangrant. When sawing, it was "tvaiter" (the outer parts of the log) for sale that brought money. Leftover wood was also sold. Lime was burned for masonry and plastering. The lime left over was sold for SEK 200. Furthermore, they organized lotteries and arranged parties at Sudersand's party place to raise money. In addition, SLU borrowed SEK 5,000 from Bungebanken and also received a loan from Fårösund municipality of SEK 4,500.
The building was drawn by John Olsson who was also responsible for the construction, but many volunteer hours were put in. The labor costs remained at SEK 5,515 for the construction and SEK 1,593 for painting and electrical installation, etc. The painting was carried out by Hilding Ahlberg and his apprentice, Allan Östergren. Material costs amounted to SEK 13,271. All in all, it cost the Fårö people SEK 20,379 in cash to build their Bygdegård. But without all the volunteer work, the cost would have been many times that. The housing estate was completed in 1953. In this context, special mention must be made of the firebrand Gunnar Ahlberg "The Miss". Without him and his close relatives, there probably wouldn't have been any village hall.
A special Community farm association was formed a few years after the inauguration 1953. The rent for a meeting was SEK 25. Other festivities cost SEK 40. They had an upper floor on one part of the building and furnished it as a machine room for a film projector so that films could be shown in the room. Cinemas were shown during the winter months. Under the stage there were two boxes for the theater groups that sometimes performed. In summer, the upper floor was rented out to tourists.
The village farm included an outhouse and they also had a dug well. In the first years, the heating took place via a wood-burning hot air boiler. On The 1960s an oil boiler was installed and on The 1970s water was drawn in. However, the outhouse remained until the major renovation 1994-95. Then, over the years, the community center had been used less and less, because there were no toilets inside. In 1994, therefore, a total renovation began. The cost was estimated at 1.7 million. The housing authority accounted for half, Gotland municipality for 30 and Bygdegårdsföreningen for 20 percent.
A summer resident architect, Einar Berg, was responsible for the drawings and Conny Östergren and others for the reconstruction. In July 1995, the community center was reopened. At that time, Bygdegårdsföreningen still had a debt to the bank of just over SEK 2,000,000. When the association appealed to the Fårö residents for financial support, this was heeded by the director Ingmar Bergman, who paid the entire debt. Today, the community center is widely used for many different events, such as parties, meetings, markets and theatre.
Source:
The book Fårö The people on the island
