April Blog

There are not many things that are as exciting as organizing a big party. (Those of you who have organized weddings may disagree). Swedish Press has had two great - still talked about - anniversary parties in the past, so now it is a real challenge to make the 80th jubilee party (see page 8) the one to top them all when it comes to exceptional entertainment, food and drink!

We are so lucky to get Magnus Martensson to entertain us before he takes off for bigger stages. This fall he is going on an extensive tour of the USA and Canada, that those in the know predict, will be the big break for this very talented and funny young entertainer (interviewed on page 20).

"I want to be there too," writes singersongwriter Michael Saxell (SwPr Sep08) from Ystad. He has booked his flight and will be a special treat with such Swedish favorites as När en Flicka Talar Skånska (When a girl speaks the Skania dialect) from the creator, who also has a colourful history on the Canadian music scene where he collaborated with Randy Bachman and others.

"Where can we stay?" asked some guests from Seattle so I contacted the closest hotel to the Scandinavian Centre. The luxurious Delta Burnaby Hotel and Conference Centre, that is part of the brand new Grand Villa Casino, opens at the end of the month of april, and our guests can stay there at a very special rate of $149.

The welcoming drink at the 60th and 70th anniversary parties were sparkling wines all the way from Sweden. This year you will enjoy a very special Swedish-American "champagne" from the Sjoeblom Winery in Napa Valley.

IT entrepreneur Michael Sjöblom produces a unique Cabernet Sauvignon sparkling wine under the strict laws of the French Methode Champenois, that connoisseurs are raving about.

These kinds of out-of the-ordinary details are not a breeze to bring together. For one anniversary, we had arranged to get a shipment of the Swedish Kroner sparkling wine through its US agent. On the morning of the party it had still not arrived. I called New York and was told that they had forgotten to ship the boxes and now it was too late!

With six hours to go, I got the telephone number to suppliers on the west coast who could possibly have bottles of Kroner. I located a warehouse in Los Angeles with three cases and a warehouse manager who personally drove the cases to the airport and made sure they were on the first available flight. The champagne was speeded through customs and arrived at the Swedish Hall literally minutes before the guests did.

Some people may ask why we bother to take on this big job of organizing a party. To that I say that Swedish Press deserves a great celebration. It has made it through all these years while over two thousand other Swedish American publications have folded.

We would love to see you all at the party but that is of course an impossibility. But perhaps you will honour the magazine with a greeting or best of all give Swedish Press the gift of a new subscriber on this its 80th year of publishing!

Have a nice April!

Anders

P.S.

As I am writing this, Erik Mara phones to tell me that in a Swedish Press from 1975 it says that the paper was started in 1927 - so we are two years late with the jubilee! My research found the very first issue in the fall of 1928, and you can read more in next month’s jubilee issue.