BAY RIDGE — The Norwegian Christian Home and Health Center’s Fall Festival brought a little bit of Scandinavia back to Bay Ridge, which was once a primarily Norwegian neighborhood.
The event took place on Saturday, Sept. 21 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the home, located at 1250 67th St., and featured delicious Norwegian food such as lapskaus, pea soup, fish pudding and Marzipan cake with apricot filling.
“As the event chair for the Norwegian Christian Home’s Annual Fall Fair, I always look forward to seeing our beloved community come out to join us,” Arlene Rutuelo told this paper.
“Every year hundreds of people attend the fair and we continue to grow each year. The committee planned all the activities, awesome raffle prizes, numerous vendors, estate sales and plenty of homemade food ready for all our visitors. Who doesn’t just love waffles? The weather was beautiful on Saturday so we had a wonderful turnout of people coming down to visit our campus. It was a day of fun for the whole family,” she added.
For Norwegian-American Lynn Anderson the fair held special significance.
“My maiden name is Kongevold, so that’s why I like to be so involved in this event because I see a lot of older Norwegian people that maybe my dad used to know,” she told this paper.
“It’s nice to have the feel of family where everybody gets together and everybody gets to have the waffles and the Norwegian foods and the open-face sandwiches,” she added.
Several raffle drawings were held, and one lucky winner took home the grand prize — a cruise for two with Norwegian Cruise Line.
Rutuelo was pleased that by noon, a record number of people had stopped by at the fair with many new faces.
“There were lots of new people from the community,” said Rutuelo. “I’ve been chairing this event for 12 years and I want to thank everyone who came here for the first time and everyone who’s been here before. We look forward to seeing you again next year,” she added.
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