Save the date: December 7, 2023! SELC will once again host the Smorgasbord! The date is Thursday, December 7th. Tickets will go on sale Monday, November 6th at 9 a.m. in the Parish Hall, Academy Avenue, Swedesburg. Tickets will cost $20 each. Tickets will be available in the church office after November 6th. When purchasing in the church office, only check or exact cash will be accepted. Change will not be available. Call 319-254-2216 for your tickets after November 6th. The Swedish expression “var så god” is used when offering something to eat. The Swedish Smörgåsbord menu of Swedesburg, IA politely translates as “Please honor us by accepting what we have to offer”, more simply translated as “Come to the Table”. Plans are once again under way for the long standing Swedish Smörgåsbord. The local event has taken place at the Parish Hall in Swedesburg, IA on the first Thursday in December each year. That date this year will be December 7, 2023. Smörgåsbord has been an annual event since 1938 except for a couple years during World War II when rationing limited access to necessary ingredients to prepare the feast and of course the most recent two years due to COVID. The menu consists of traditional Scandinavian dishes such as, Fruktsoppa (Fruit Soup), Bruna Bönor (Brown Beans), Svenska Köttbuller (Swedish Meatballs), Potatiskorv (Potato Sausage), and deserts Rigrynsgröt (Rice Pudding), Ostkaka (a special custard like cake), Äppelkaka (Apple Cake), Lingonberries (shipped here from Sweden), and many other dishes too numerous to list. All are recipes that have been handed down through generations. The event’s purpose is charitable. Every year all profits from the event is given to mission work, either in this community, or to national and internationally related missions. Countless hours of volunteer work have gone into preparing this banquet in the past and in keeping it on the calendar for over eighty years.