For the eighth year, Bay Area Baltic organizations held the annual Baltic Christmas Fair on Saturday, December 3 at the Latvian Lutheran Church Hall in San Francisco.
Nearly twenty vendors from the Baltic communities offered a wide variety of Baltic gifts, crafts, and treats for sale. This year’s event had a record number of attendees, including more and more San Franciscans without a strong Baltic connection who are drawn to the Noe Valley event’s relaxed, neighborhood feel, its sharing of holiday traditions, and the popular lunch plate served by the ladies of the Latvian church.
Even as the festive season has arrived, the gravity of Russia’s war on Ukraine is not forgotten. The fair raised $2000 overall for the nonprofit organization Nova Ukraine and its humanitarian aid projects, thanks to donations from the fair proceeds, from generous attendees, and from the Estonian Society bake sale table. Volunteer bakers offered up delicious holiday favorites for the cause, including pepparkakor, gingerbread raspberry torte, pumpkin and gingerbread spice loaves, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, kirju koer, rummipallid, rukkileib, kringel, and rugelach. By the afternoon, every item had been sold and all monies raised went towards this essential cause.
The San Francisco Estonian Society, Northern California Latvian Association, and San Francisco Lithuanian American Community host several events together during the year, including the Christmas fair and the Bay Area Baltic Picnic in June. This past October, the groups also came together for a first-ever Baltic folk dance workshop afternoon, intended to bring folk dance to a wider audience by teaching and learning Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian dances in a casual setting, without performance as a goal. Around 50 attendees of all ages came to dance together at the first session; everyone is welcome to join next time in the spring! For more information about Baltic and Estonian events in the Bay Area, contact us at sanfranciscoeestiselts@gmail.com.
San Francisco Estonian Society
Photos: SF Estonian Society
