All across the city, a string of events invited visitors to experience Swedish Christmas traditions for a day.

With nine different sites, a variety of classes, foods and goods to sample and purchase, the annual Julmarknad, or Swedish Christmas Market Day, offered festive fun throughout the day.

To begin the day, Ecklof Bakery offered samples of traditional Swedish seasonal items, and offered a great selection of breads, cookies, braids and rolls, Tom and Jerry mix and more. The bakery also held a raffle drawing. Jones Valhalla served a family recipe korv burger, while the Scandinavian Studies Program sponsored a Swedish marketplace and culture day complete with dancing, workshops and a variety of vendors at Jamestown Community College. The culture day ended with a traditional Smogasbord complete with many traditional Swedish foods.

Mary Ann Ingrao, Swedish dancer and vendor, said the event helps the community celebrate Swedish heritage in a special way.

“It is to preserve our Scandinavian heritage and pass it on to the next generation,” Ingrao said. “It’s just a way to bring together the people and the locally made items that speak about our Scandinavian heritage. It helps preserve the language and the culture. The Swedish language is so beautiful, and it is just fun to be able to translate some of the old way of speaking and sharing what that meant to our ancestors.”

Peterson Farm was also abuzz with activity throughout the day. The shop offered a variety of Swedish foods for visitors to try including Swedish meatballs, Julskinka or Christmas ham, yellow pea soup, rotmos or mashed potatoes and rutabaga and alcohol free glog.

Kaitlyn Whalen partners with her grandfather, Alan, in the family business. She said she enjoys the Julmarknad because it brings people together.

“It’s been really steady all day long,” Whalen said. “The most popular item has been our store-made korv. Everything we’ve got on the (sampling) table, we sell here at the store.”

The shop is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day, and also boasts a Scandinavian gift shop which offers items like Christmas books, blankets from Sweden and other goods.  Whalen said the gift shop is also a popular destination for market day shoppers.

“My favorite part (of the market) is seeing all the people and the new people trying new foods,” she said.

However, it is important to note Korv is not just a Christmas treat as the store makes it all year long, Whalen added.

Wegmans, Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History, Immanuel Lutheran Church and the Fenton History Center also participated in the Julmarknad in various ways throughout the day.