By Jack Delaney | jdelaney@queensledger.com
The Danish Seamen’s Church threw its yearly Christmas Fair last weekend, on November 23rd and 24th, drawing a crowd of expat Danes, second-gen Scandinavians, and Nordophiles alike to the church’s brownstone in Brooklyn Heights.
Julie Sløk, pastor since 2006, said that the market is the church’s major fundraiser of the year. The tradition has been carried on for over forty years, and the church itself has existed since the late 19th century, counting photographer Jacob Riis among its congregants.
In the backyard, volunteers Anne Wallen and Carsten Holm doled out ample helpings of pancake balls called aebleskiver, paired with strawberry jam and powdered sugar, to a stream of customers. And even as the event wound down on its final day, a dozen market goers sat conversing in animated Danish along two rows of long wooden tables.
“It’s a wonderful community,” Carsten said. “For Danes in North America, this is a unique place. The confirmation classes have people coming from all over the U.S.” (and even Canada, Anne added.)
There are only about 10,000 such Danes currently living in the tri-state area, said Marianne Beresford, co-owner of the popular supplier Scandinavian Butik in Norwalk, CT, as well as a board member of the church and the event’s joint organizer with Sløk. But the meager numbers belie, or perhaps contribute to, a tight-knit camaraderie.
“Every Dane should go abroad for at least two years,” she said. After a beat she explained, half-joking: “So they know how good they have it.”
The market’s large turnout this year is also a testament to the resiliency of both the church’s leadership and its community. Like many other houses of worship, the Seamen’s Church, or Sjomanden Kirke in Danish, shut down all of its in-person operations when the pandemic broke out. Yet with typical good cheer, Sløk and her team shifted to virtual offerings, and sought for upsides.
Despite all this, the board’s annual report read, 2020 was a good year for the Seamen’s Church. We have found out how much we mean to each other and to the Danes here. It must follow the motto that nothing is so bad that it is not good for something.
