Sømandskirken’s Spring Fair offered great shopping experience

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On Tuesday 19 April the Danish Seamen’s Church hosted Spring Fair. From 10 in the morning, the church and more than 33 small stands were ready to welcome guests. Everything from vintage silver bracelets to children’s clothing to notebooks made from elephant poo were available to purchase at the different vendors’ stands.

“I think there is a great mix of shops here. There are so many things you would not find at fairs in Denmark,” says Helle Quist Rasmussen, owner at ByQ. She is here to sell her handmade jewelry, which she has made especially for this fair.

This is the second fair at the Sømandskirken, but since the first one “Scandinavian Fair” only “allowed” Scandinavian vendors to sell, this is for everyone with quality products to sell.

“There is a reason why we named the fair “Spring Fair”. We wanted a variety of products, and not only from Scandinavians,” says Pia Nørgaard Pedersen, volunteer at Sømandskirken.

This is the reason why Dutch Miriam Beurskens has set up a stall today. She had already heard about the first Scandinavian Fair from her Scandinavian friends, and was happy to get the chance to have her own stand at this fair. She sells handmade fairtrade products from her shop BISOUS LA. We have to mention her notebooks made of elephant excrements.

“These notebooks are made by farmers from Sri Lanka. They discovered the benefits of using the fiber from the elephant poo and turn it into paper. These papers play an important role in saving the wild Asian elephant population,” says Miriam Beurskens.

For the jewelry-lovers, there were a broad spectrum of shopping options. From dazzlingly vintage pieces to handmade Nepalese pearl bracelets to minimalistic Nordic design. Especially the latter were highly appreciated among the Danish shoppers.

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“I hate “shiny-shiny”,” says Anita Søe Beilin, media analyst at MediaWatch. She is happy to find Nordic designs at the fair, and is now the happy owner of a simple, golden pin.

Home decoration products were also available at the fair. Ceramic handmade lamps from Creative2 were displayed inside the church. “I believe it is a wonderful initiative from Sømandskirken to make this fair,” says Marija Avdic, owner of Creative 2.

The hard work of the volunteers of the church came to fruition. Guests and vendors appreciated their effort to put focus on the event, too.

“The people behind Spring Fair have done an amazing job! They have been better to interact on social media, and I guess this is also one of the reasons why so many have showed up today,” says Betina Falster-Hansen, owner at DANSK SG.

Regardless of the swarm of people, the kitchen did not stress. “I am used to work during the church’s Christmas Basar, so I am prepared for an event like this,” says Lis Jensen, kitchen assistent at Sømandskirken. The kitchen served Danish smørrebrød, and according to Lis Jensen, the most popular was the fish filet.

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All vendors had to send an application to the church for approval, and later the church would gather all applications and decide which ones should be accepted for the fair. It was not a simple task, since they received an overwhelming amount of applications.

“We received a lot more applications than expected. We came to realise, that we had too many applications from jewelry vendors. In prior to make the fair varieted and in lack of space, we had to put some of the jewelry vendors on a waiting list. They will get their chance to display their products at future fairs,” says Pia Nørgaard Pedersen, volunteer at Sømandskirken.

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