Friday Happy Hour: Third Advent
Friday, December 11, 6 – 8 pm
Casual gathering under the string lights by the decked-out Picnic Pavilion and the Club’s outdoor Christmas tree.
- Food: Hotdogs and hamburgers on rye.
- Seasonal beverages
- Fire bowls
- Christmas music
- Donation jar
Wear your mask, please!
Experience an Old World Scandinavian Outdoor Christmas MarketSaturday, December 5, 10 am – 2 pm
Sunday, December 6, 10 am – 2 pm
- Artisan vendors
- Nordic gifts and food
- Handmade crafts
- Baked goods
- Entertainment
- Julbord in a box
- Free parking
- Much more
Enjoy our Julbord – a traditional Scandinavian Christmas feast that includes pickled herring, gravlax, Swedish meatballs with lingonberry jam, Scandinavian Christmas ham, potato gratin, cucumber salad and Nordic bread. All in a convenient to-go container.
Available for pickup at the Christmas Market starting 11:30 am on Sunday, Dec 6.
Braided Cardamom Bread has been a staple at the Scandinavian Club’s Christmas Market every year. This traditional holiday loaf is a delicious, enriched dough topped with pearl sugar. This puffy braided dough is perfect when paired with warm coffee.
Available for pickup at 10 am on Sunday, Dec 6 at the Christmas Market.
Friday Happy Hour: First Advent
Friday, November 27, 4 – 6 pm (Note the earlier time frame!)
Casual gathering under the string lights by the decked-out Picnic Pavilion and the Club’s outdoor Christmas tree.
- Food: Chili
- Beverages
- Fire bowls
- Music
- Donation jar
Wear your mask, please!
Outdoor Holiday Craft Workshop: Danish Advent Wreath
Friday, November 27, 1–3 pm (Rain date: Saturday, November 28)
Kick off the season at a cozy outdoor wreath making event with floral designer Sarah Saunders, owner of the New York City-based event design company, Sarah Saunders Studio. Sarah will instruct us on how to make a traditional Danish Advent wreath using tapered candles, greenery and other botanical materials. Create your own tabletop centerpiece to enjoy throughout this holiday season.
Safe, socially distant, outdoor event. Participants should dress appropriately for the weather. Firebowls, seasonal music, complimentary warm beverages and cardamom buns.
You must bring your own floral wire, clippers and gloves. Bring a hot glue gun, if you have one.
Mask wearing mandatory.
In the event of inclement weather, the workshop will be held the following day, Saturday, November 28, 1-3 pm.
Cost: $90
If we have to cancel, we will refund the registration fee.
Friday Happy Hour: Grillfest
Friday, November 20, 6 – 8 pm
Campfire-style knockwurst grilling under the string lights by the Picnic Pavilion. Wear your mask, please! And bring your stick!
Donation jar.
Friday Happy Hour: Svenska Dagen (Finnish Swedish Heritage Day)
Friday, November 6, 6 – 8 pm
A reprise of the very successful event last year, but this time outdoors by the Picnic Pavilion. Wear your mask, please!
Traditional menu
Pea soup
Swedish punsch
Oven pancake
Bonus: Estonian rye bread sandwiches
Donation jar.
Please wear your mask.
Today, approximately 5% of the current population in Finland are considered to be Swedish-speaking Finns. This history of Swedish-speaking Finns dates back several centuries to when Finland was under Swedish rule and trade was prominent along the Baltic coast.
The day has been celebrated in Finland since 1908 by the Swedish speakers as “Svenska dagen”. The date was chosen in honor of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, who was killed on November 6 in 1632 at the Battle of Lützen in the Thirty Years’ War.
Nordic Winter Lunch
Sunday, November 1, 12 noon – 2 pm
Come join us for an outdoor lunch to celebrate the end of harvest and the traditional start of the Nordic Winter! We will be serving Winter Sausage, with potato gratin, roasted butternut squash and hearty bread. This is followed by kaffe cake for dessert.
Can’t make it but would like to order a meal to go? $15 boxed lunches will be available to purchase online for pickup at 12 noon.
For those dining at the Club, additional beverages will be available.
Wear your mask, please!
In the spirit of the season, attendees are encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item that will be donated to a local food pantry.
Not familiar with Nordic Winter or Winternights? This marks the final end of harvest and the time when the animals that were not expected to make it through the winter were butchered and smoked or made into sausage. The festival is also called “Elf-Blessing”, “Dis-Blessing”, or “Frey-Blessing”, which is a time of honouring the ancestral spirits, the spirits of the land, the Vanir, and the powers of fruitfulness, wisdom, and death. It marks the turning of the year from summer to winter, the turning of our awareness from outside to inside. Among the Norse, the ritual was often led by the woman of a family – the ruler of the house and all within. One of the commonest harvest customs was the hallowing and leaving of the “Last Sheaf” in the field, often for Odin and/or his host of the dead.
The Winternights feast is also especially seen as a time to celebrate our kinship and friendship with both the living and our earlier forebears. It marks the beginning of the long dark wintertime at which memory becomes more important than foresight, at which old tales are told and great deeds are toasted as we ready ourselves for the spring to come. It is a time to think of accomplishments achieved and those which have yet to be made. Winternights also marks the beginning of a time of domestic work, thought and craftsmanship.
Since our social activities will be largely constrained to the outdoors this winter we ask all who attend to bring suggestions for future winter events.
FCS ROCKS: The Music of ABBA
Exclusive performance just for Club members and guests
Suggested donation: $25 per person
Friday, October 23, 7 – 9 pm
Food: 30 Swedish meatball boxed dinners available, $15 each.
Swedish cardamom buns and beverages also available for purchase.
Fairfield Center Stage, a local community theater group, will present an outdoor, socially-distanced ABBA-themed concert on the back lawn of the Club. FCS musicians and singers will recreate the greatest hits of ABBA, featuring a house band and rotating cast of singers performing classics such as “Dancing Queen” and “Waterloo” as well as an opening set of highlight songs from previous FCS musical productions.
The cast of performers includes an all-local company of singers and musicians. The list of singers includes Nikki Adorante, Jane Barnes, Steve Benko, Matthew Casey, Monica Castillo, Anne Collin, Brian Crook, Sean Davis, Ainsley Dahlstrom, Lisa Dahlstrom, Molly Forker, Luke Hatzis, Bobby Henry, Marnie Kruse, Lisa Lampanelli, Britton McGrath, Christy McIntosh-Newsom, T. Sean Maher, Jenifer Menedis, Ainsley Novin, Kevin Pelkey, Sophie Pennock-Collins, Katie Priscott, Marilyn Olsen, Avery Owens, Jessica Rahrig, Zully Ramos, Kitty Robertson, Sana “Prince” Sarr, Emily Seanor, Genevieve Seanor, Kenneth Skjeveland, Krista Watson, Nora Watson, Rita Watson, Virgil Watson, Alexis Willoughby. Musicians include George Beratis, Charles Casimiro, Dwayne Condon, Mark Dennis, McNeil Johnston, Gabe Nappi, Brendan Stavris, and Clay Zambo.
Audiences will sit in individual 5’x5′ squares painted on the lawn, spaced 15′ feet from other squares, per state guidelines. 2 persons maximum for this size square. Masks required when not inside reserved seating squares. Patrons can bring blankets and/or low-back chairs. Refreshments will be available for a suggested donation.
Approximate run time of concert is 100 min, no intermission.
Friday Happy Hour: Leifur Eiríksson
Friday, October 9, 6–8 pm
Weather permitting
Casual get-together under the string lights outside the Picnic Pavilion to celebrate a Norse explorer from Iceland.
- Food: Fish soup (vegan option available)
- Beverages
- Streaming jukebox (Spotify playlist)
- Mölkky (and other lawn games)
- Firebowls
- Donation jar
Tables will be spaced 6 feet apart and food servers will wear mask and gloves. Everyone is expected to wear a mask unless eating or drinking.
Everyone is welcome! Drop in, drop out at any time between 6 and 9 pm.
Leifur Eiríksson (who is known in English as Leif Erikson) is probably the best known hero of Viking age Iceland, the first European to arrive in America: Leifur’s voyage to America in the year 1000 preceded the Christopher Columbus’ voyage by roughly half a millennia.
In 1964, the United States Congress authorized and requested the president to proclaim 9 October of each year as “Leif Erikson Day.”
Read more on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson
International Cinnamon Bun Day
Sunday, October 4, 1–3 pm
Join us for an afternoon fika (coffee hour) outdoors by the Picnic Pavilion. Freshly baked cinnamon rolls (kanelbullar) will be available for purchase.
Cinnamon Bun Day was created in 1999 to celebrate Sweden’s rich tradition of bullar, or buns, and now it has become a tradition held every year on October 4.
Happy Kanelbullens dag!
Red Cross Blood Drive
Monday, September 28, 11 am – 4 pm
Severe Blood Shortage, Donors Urgently Needed
Right now, eligible and healthy donors are strongly urged to make an appointment to provide lifesaving blood products to patients. Please sign up to give now.
To schedule your appointment visit
REDCROSSBLOOD.ORG
USE SPONSOR CODE: SCANDINAVIAN
Arts & Crafts Fair
Sunday, September 27
10 am – 4 pm
- 20 local fine arts and crafts vendors showcasing handcrafted artistic gifts
- Free admission and parking
- Hygge: Outdoors with appropriate social distancing in place
- Fika: Coffee, tea and a wide variety of delicious food items for sale
Vendors:
2 Latitudes, adirondack furniture @2latitudesadk
Beadfreeforever, jewelry @beadfreeforever
Chic Reclaimed Designs, reclaimed wood
Deb Owen, clothing @debowendesigns
Debbie Fonseca, wooden flags
Donna Albano, paintings
Emmy Starr Designs, jewelry @emmystarrdesigns
Felix Summ, graphic design
Funky Tulip Glassworks, glass @funkytulipglassworks
Heidi Armster, hand bags @heiditaschen
Holm-Hansen Woodturning, wood bowls and urns @holm_hansen_150
Ingrig Vit, home made skin care
J’s Homemade, homemade elderberry syrup @jshomemadesyrup
Jolanda, candles & concrete
Lee Skalkos, jewelry
Mr Elkow, paintings
Patty Church, ceramics
Sarah Saunders Studio, candles and florals @sarahsaundersstudio
Siw Potter, knitting
Sue Fow, dog leashes
Teresa Rainieri, graphic artwork
Friday Happy Hour
Friday, September 25, 6 – 9 pm
Weather permitting
Casual get-together under the string lights outside the Picnic Pavilion: Food (vegan option available), beverages, streaming jukebox (Spotify playlist), corn hole (or other lawn games), firebowls, donation jar.
Tables will be spaced 6 feet apart and food servers will wear mask and gloves. Everyone is expected to wear a mask unless eating or drinking.
Everyone is welcome! Drop in, drop out at any time between 6 and 9 pm.
Friday Happy Hour: Närpes Grisar
Friday, September 18, 6 – 9 pm
Weather permitting
Casual get-together under the string lights outside the Picnic Pavilion: Food (vegan option available), beverages, streaming jukebox (Spotify playlist), corn hole (or other lawn games), firebowls, donation jar.
Tables will be spaced 6 feet apart and food servers will wear mask and gloves. Everyone is expected to wear a mask unless eating or drinking.
Everyone is welcome! Drop in, drop out at any time between 6 and 8 pm.
Red Cross Blood Drive
Wednesday, September 16, 11 am – 4 pm
Severe Blood Shortage, Donors Urgently Needed
Right now, eligible and healthy donors are strongly urged to make an appointment to provide lifesaving blood products to patients. Please sign up to give now.
To schedule your appointment visit
REDCROSSBLOOD.ORG
USE SPONSOR CODE: SCANDINAVIAN
Friday Happy Hour: A Tribute to Norway
Friday, September 11, 6 – 8 pm
Weather permitting
The Club has seen an influx of membership applications from people of Norwegian heritage, so let’s honor Norway in a casual setting under the string lights outside the Picnic Pavilion: Food (sosekjøtt with potetmos – vegan option available), beverages, streaming jukebox (Norwegian hits on Spotify), corn hole (or other Norwegian lawn games), firebowls, donation jar.
Tables will be spaced 6 feet apart and food servers will wear mask and gloves. Everyone is expected to wear a mask unless eating or drinking.
Everyone is welcome! Drop in, drop out at any time between 6 and 8 pm.
Friday Happy Hour: ABBA – All Night Long
Friday, September 4, 6 – 9 pm
Every ABBA music video 1972–1983 on 9-foot projection screen
Food • Beverages • Corn hole (or other lawn games)
Firefly lightshow (after dark) • Donation jar
Red Cross Blood Drive
Tuesday, September 1, 9 am – 2 pm
Severe Blood Shortage, Donors Urgently Needed
Right now, eligible and healthy donors are strongly urged to make an appointment to provide lifesaving blood products to patients. Please sign up to give now.
To schedule your appointment visit
REDCROSSBLOOD.ORG
USE SPONSOR CODE: SCANDINAVIAN
“Villaavslutning” Party
Saturday, August 29
4 – 8 pm
“Villaavslutning”, which directly translates to “closing of the summer house”, is a festive farewell to summer in Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is always celebrated on the last Saturday in August and the festivities culminate in mighty bonfires, torches, colored lanterns, fireworks, and more. The original and genuine celebration takes place at the summer house in the archipelago.
Weather forecast is looking “fair”!
Casual get-together under the string lights outside the Picnic Pavilion with traditional BONFIRE and luminarias.
– Food: “Swedish korv” from Newington Meats (naturally gluten-free, grain-free, sugar-free, and dairy-free), potato salad, green salad and dessert
– Beverages
– Raffle
– Streaming jukebox (Spotify summer music)
– Corn hole (or other lawn games)
– Firefly lightshow (after dark)
– Donation jar
Fireworks is also a tradition, but we can’t do that.
Friday Happy Hour
Friday, August 14
6 – 8 pm
Casual get-together under the string lights outside the Picnic Pavilion:
– Food
– Beverages
– Raffle
– Streaming jukebox (Spotify playlist, basically)
– Corn hole (or other lawn games)
– Firefly lightshow (after dark)
– Donation jar
Friday Happy Hour: Surströmming
Friday, July 31
6 – 8 pm
Casual get-together under the string lights outside the Picnic Pavilion:
– Food
– Beverages
– Raffle
– Streaming jukebox (Spotify playlist, basically)
– Corn hole (or other lawn games)
– Firefly lightshow (after dark)
– Donation jar
Special feature:
Opening of the Surströmming can
A spectacle not to be missed!
Get your Instagram video recorders ready!
Surströmming (Swedish for ”sour herring”) is a lightly-salted fermented Baltic Sea herring that has been part of northern Swedish cuisine since at least the 16th century. It is often eaten with tunnbröd, a thin, either soft or crispy bread (not to be confused with crispbread). In addition to the fish, the two most common toppings are potatoes (either sliced or mashed, often almond potatoes) and finely diced red onion.
Read more on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surströmming
Or watch as a bunch of tough (and foul-mouthed) Texans open a special delivery from Finland:
Tables will be spaced 6 feet apart and food servers will wear mask and gloves. Everyone is expected to wear a mask unless eating or drinking.
Everyone is welcome! Drop in, drop out at any time between 6 and 8 pm.
Red Cross Blood Drive
Thursday, July 16 & July 30
8 am – 6 pm
Severe Blood Shortage, Donors Urgently Needed
Right now, eligible and healthy donors are strongly urged to make an appointment to provide lifesaving blood products to patients. Please sign up to give now.
To schedule your appointment visit
REDCROSSBLOOD.ORG
USE SPONSOR CODE: SCANDINAVIAN
Sunday Happy HourFriday, July 17
Sunday, July 19
6–8 pm
Due to the prospect of “damp” weather in Fairfield this evening, the program chair has decided to reschedule tonight’s event at the Club for SUNDAY instead.
We’ll do a reprise of the very successful Independence Day event in a casual setting under the string lights outside the Picnic Pavilion:
– Food
– Beverages
– Raffle
– Streaming jukebox (Spotify playlist, basically)
– Corn hole (or other lawn games)
– Firefly lightshow (after dark)
– Donation jar
Like for Midsummer, tables will be spaced 6 feet apart and food servers will wear mask and gloves. Everyone is expected to wear a mask unless eating or drinking.
Everyone is welcome! Drop in, drop out at any time between 6 and 8 pm.
4th on the 3rdFriday, July 3, 6–8 pm
Saturday, July 4, 6–8 pm
Due to the prospect of 100% rain in Fairfield this evening, the program chair has decided to reschedule tonight’s event at the Club for TOMORROW instead.
And so, let’s also change the name to the “4th on the 4th”.
See you at 6 pm tomorrow, Saturday, July 4th!
Happy Independence Day!
Peter
Join us for a leisurely and casual get-together with a fundraising theme under the string lights at the Picnic Pavilion:
– Food
– Beverages
– Raffle(s)
– Streaming jukebox
– Badminton (or other lawn games)
– Firefly lightshow (after dark)
– Donation jar
Get a jump start on the holiday weekend!
The Club’s rental business is slowly bouncing back, and in the meantime the Board is asking for your support to defray the cost of maintenance.
Please consider making a donation! Kick back and give back!
Like for Midsummer, tables will be spaced 6 feet apart and food servers will wear mask and gloves.Everyone is expected to wear a mask unless eating or drinking.
Everyone is welcome! Drop in, drop out at any time between 6 and 8 pm.
Midsummer Celebration
Saturday, June 20
6–9 pm
Cost: $40.00/person (members and guests)
Note: Take-out is an option, but the cost is the same
– Outdoor dining and socializing (Sunset is at 8:29 pm, so dress in layers)
– Bonfire in the backyard
Menu:
Appetizer: Pickled herring, gravlax, mustard, bread
Entree: Poached salmon, potato salad, cucumber salad, bread
(Alternative to fish will be available. Please indicate in Notes field during checkout, or email membership@thescandinavianclub.com)
Dessert: Strawberry fool, cookies
Included beverages: Punsch, schnapps, coffee
One person will be responsible for preparing and serving the beverages. They will wear a mask and gloves.
Due to covid-19 ALL other beverages are BYOB, including non-alcoholic beverages. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own glasses/plastic cups, including schnapps glasses.
Food will be served on disposable plates. Disposable cutlery will be wrapped in napkins in advance. Food will be plated by one person, who will be wearing a mask and gloves.
Signup is required. Online payment is preferred, payment by check is second preferred payment method. Exact change preferred for cash payment. Payment should be as contactless as possible.
Those cohabiting with one another may sit together. All tables will be spaced a minimum of six feet apart. People will be assigned to a table. Please note seating preferences when signing up.
Masks must be worn at all times unless eating and drinking, or due to other health reasons. Hand sanitizer will be available. When conversing individuals must maintain six feet of social distancing. Bathrooms will be open.
Make your own flower crown and wear it:
For those who would like to practice the singing:
“Punschen kommer” goes with this melody:
Red Cross Blood Drive – NEW DATE
Wednesday, May 27
1:30 – 6:45 pm
Severe Blood Shortage, Donors Urgently Needed
Right now, eligible and healthy donors are strongly urged to make an appointment to provide lifesaving blood products to patients. Please sign up to give now.
To schedule your appointment visit
REDCROSSBLOOD.ORG
USE SPONSOR CODE: SCANDINAVIAN
Easter Brunch – CANCELLEDSaturday, April 11
11 am
Mamma Mia! – RESCHEULEDApril 30
June or July, pending COVID-19 status
The Saint Urho event has been cancelled due to Corona virus (COVID-19) concerns. Sorry for the short notice.
The health and safety of our members, some of which are older and have respiratory issues like asthma, is a top priority. The board’s decision to suspend programming is a precautionary and voluntary measure to ensure the well-being of our community.
Please read the CDC’s updates and information regarding COVID-19:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html
We wish happiness and safety to all of our friends and members during this time.
Cancelled: Saint Urho
Friday, March 13, 6–9 pm
Come drink to Saint Urho! The legend of Saint Urho was the invention of a Finnish-American named Richard Mattson, who worked at Ketola’s Department Store in Virginia, Minnesota in the spring of 1956. Mattson later recounted that he invented St. Urho when he was questioned by coworker Gene McCavic about the Finns’ lack of a saint like the Irish St. Patrick, whose feat of casting the snakes out of Ireland is remembered on St. Patrick’s Day.
According to the original “Ode to St. Urho” written by Gene McCavic and Richard Mattson, St. Urho was supposed to have cast “tose ‘Rogs” (those frogs) out of Finland by the power of his loud voice, which he obtained by drinking “feelia sour” (sour whole milk) and eating “kala mojakka” (fish soup). The selection of the name Urho as the saint’s name was probably influenced by the accession of Urho Kekkonen to the presidency of Finland in 1956. Urho in the Finnish language also has the meaning of hero or simply brave.
Scandinavian Movie Club
February 24–28, doors: 6 pm, movie: 7 pm
One Scandinavian movie for each day of the week!
Come for all, or come for one.
15-foot projection screen.
English subtitles.
Monday, Feb 24: Rams (Hrútar, Iceland, 2015)
A hard-drinking Icelandic farmer and his estranged brother band together to save their flocks of sheep from authorities who want the animals destroyed.
“The film is most memorable for its gravity, for the almost tragic nobility it finds in sad and silly circumstances.” – A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Tuesday, Feb 25: The Guilty (Den skyldige, Denmark, 2018)
Alarm dispatcher and former police officer Asger Holm answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is suddenly disconnected, the search for the woman and her kidnapper begins.
“A high-concept, low-budget and skilfully muscle-tensing Danish thriller to which you can imagine more than a couple of eager Tinseltown execs angling for the remake rights.” – Guy Lodge, Variety
Wednesday, Feb 26: Burning 2 (Børning 2, Norway, 2016)
After two years in prison for participating in an illegal street race, Roy says no to a new illegal winter race from Bergen to Murmansk in the North of Russia. But then he hears that his daughter will participate with a boyfriend.
“Norway’s take on the Fast & Furious movie” – Lutafisk on Reddit
Thursday, Feb 27: Eternal Road (Ikitie, Finland, 2017)
Jussi Ketola returns home to Finland from America at the beginning of the Great Depression, hoping to live quietly and farm the land. But his fellow Finns, still raw from the ravages of the Civil War, cannot trust Ketola. One night he is forcefully taken across the Russian border, where he must cooperate with the local security police where he gets a new identity and a new life.
Based on the novel of Antti Tuuri, inspired by true events.
The movie features intense themes for mature audiences.
Danish actress Sidse Babett Knudsen in supporting role.
Friday, Feb 28: Cockpit (Sweden, 2012)
Farcical sex comedy set in Stockholm: Valle is a pilot who loses his job, his wife and his house at the same time. His radical solution is to put on a wig and a dress and to apply for a job that requires a certain quota of women. However, the lines between his female and male life, as well as his personal and love life, start blurring and eventually becomes too much to handle.
“Sweden’s take on Tootsie” – The internet
Founders Dinner
Saturday, January 25, 7 pm
$40 for members and guests
