The Danish American Club and Rebild Chapter North invite you to a family-friendly Halloween Party at
Gassen in Aalborg on 24th October, from 2 – 5:30 pm!
Get ready for a hyggelig Family Halloween Party, where there will be trick-or-treating, pumpkin painting (please remember to bring your own pumpkin) and where costumes will be admired, so if you or your kids/grand-kids dress up, it will make the day even more enjoyable and fun (but you are welcome without a costume).
Snacks and soft drinks will be available!
Please RSVP by 9th October, so we can be sure there’s enough for everyone.
Dansk-Amerikansk Klub og Rebild Chapter North inviterer til en familievenlig Halloween-fest på
Gassen i Aalborg d. 24. oktober fra kl. 14:00 til 17:30!
Se frem til en hyggelig Halloween-fest for hele familien, hvor der vil være “slik eller ballade”, græskarmaling (husk at medbringe eget græskar) og masser af flotte udklædninger. Hvis du, dine børn eller børnebørn klæder jer ud, vil det gøre dagen endnu sjovere – men du er også meget velkommen uden udklædning.
Der vil være snacks og sodavand!
Giv venligst besked om deltagelse (RSVP) senest d. 9. oktober, så vi er sikre på, at der er nok til alle.
DAK and NETOP 9000 invite you to an exclusive Midterm Election talk!
The midterm election is just around the corner, and it is about much more than just ballots. What is happening behind the scenes? Who holds the cards, and what do the results mean for the rest of the world?
Morten Wendelbo, Bachelor in Political Science and Master of Public Policy and Research, will answer these questions and more on
28th October 6 – 9:30 pm. at GASSEN, Gasværksvej 48, Aalborg
Enjoy this evening with other curious souls for only 175 DKK – including sliders, American wine, beer, and soft drinks.
Seats are filling up fast. Secure your spot today!
The networking group Netop 9000 aims to bring together a broad cross-section of businesses and business professionals in North Jutland, with Aalborg as its center. Learn more here: https://netop9000.dk/
MIDTVEJSVALGET I USA 2026 på GASSEN 28. oktober.
Midtvejsvalget i USA nærmer sig!
DAK og NETOP 9000 inviterer dig til en eksklusiv snak om Midtvejsvalget i USA!
Midtvejsvalget står for døren, og det handler om langt mere end blot stemmesedler. Hvad sker der bag kulisserne? Hvem sidder med de gode kort på hånden, og hvad betyder resultatet for resten af verden?
Morten Wendelbo, bachelor i statskundskab og master i offentlig politik og forskning, vil besvare disse spørgsmål og mere til, den
28. oktober kl. 18:00 – 21:30 på GASSEN, Gasværksvej 48, Aalborg
Nyd denne aften sammen med andre nysgerrige sjæle for kun 175 kr. – inklusiv sliders, amerikansk vin, øl og sodavand.
Pladserne bliver hurtigt udsolgt. Sikr dig din plads idag!
Netværksgruppen Netop 9000 har til formål at samle et bredt udsnit af erhverv og erhvervsdrivende i Nordjylland, med Aalborg som centrum. Læs mere herom på: https://netop9000.dk/
On 4th September, Danish American Club (DAK) hosted a friendship dinner for the Danish Sisterhood at Gassen in Aalborg, as part of their tour in Northern Denmark.
A warm thank you to Sune Frederiksen for organizing and allowing DAK to show Danish hospitality for the 44 wonderful guests.
First, we got to know each other at a reception with wine and soft drinks, and for those, who had met before, it was a happy reunion to meet friends from across the Atlantic.
We know how the American Danes love homemade frikadeller and æblekage, so that was the choise of menu for the evening, and it was just such a “hyggelig” evening with lots of talk, stories to tell, and connecting across the Atlantic – some with friends of family members of long ago.
The President of Danish Sisterhood (US), Nealna Gylling told us about the organization and Niels Guldbjerg, president of DAK, introduced Dansk Amerikansk Klub and both talked about the importance these organizations have in keeping the cultural heritage alive; and gave as an example that in the US the Danish Sisterhood celebrate Mortens Aften, Fastelavn, and Skt. Hans, whereas in Denmark, DAK celebrates Thanksgiving, and Halloween. Nealna Gylling also expressed the importance of keeping the traditional Danish customs in the American families, who have roots in Denmark, such as dancing around the Christmas tree, making frikadeller and the æbleskiver.
One member, Nancy Sand, had just celebrated her birthday the day before, so both Danish and American birthday songs were sung for her.
After dinner, some would play ping-pong in the games section, some just mingled, and some of the ladies bought the wonderful and colorful Madagascar baskets of which a certain amount of the sales goes to support the funding of Danish American Club Aalborg with awarding scholarships for educational travels. Thank you, ladies, for this donation!
Danish Sisterhood besøgte DAK på GASSEN!
Den 4. september var Danish American Club (DAK) vært for en venskabsmiddag for Danish Sisterhood på Gassen i Aalborg som en del af deres rundrejse i Nordjylland.
En varm tak til Sune Frederiksen for at arrangere aftenen og give DAK mulighed for at vise dansk gæstfrihed over for de 44 dejlige gæster.
Først lærte vi hinanden at kende ved en reception med vin og sodavand, og for dem, der havde mødt hinanden tidligere, var det et glædeligt gensyn med venner fra den anden side af Atlanten.
Vi ved, hvor meget de amerikansk-danske gæster elsker hjemmelavede frikadeller og æblekage, så det blev aftenens menu. Det blev virkelig en hyggelig aften med masser af snak, historier og mulighed for at knytte forbindelser på tværs af Atlanten – nogle endda med venner af familiemedlemmer, som kendte hinanden langt tilbage i tiden.
Præsidenten for Danish Sisterhood (USA), Nealna Gylling, fortalte os om organisationen, og Niels Guldbjerg, præsident for DAK, introducerede Dansk Amerikansk Klub. Begge talte om den betydning, disse organisationer har for at holde den kulturelle arv i live. Som eksempel blev det nævnt, at Danish Sisterhood i USA fejrer Mortensaften, fastelavn og Sankt Hans, mens DAK i Danmark fejrer Thanksgiving og Halloween.
Nealna Gylling understregede også betydningen af at bevare de traditionelle danske skikke i de amerikanske familier med rødder i Danmark – såsom at danse rundt om juletræet, lave frikadeller og bage æbleskiver.
Et af medlemmerne, Nancy Sand, havde netop fejret sin fødselsdag dagen før, så både danske og amerikanske fødselsdagssange blev
Efter middagen spillede nogle bordtennis i spilleområdet, andre hyggede sig med at snakke og mingle, mens nogle af damerne købte de skønne og farverige kurve fra Madagascar. En del af salget går til at støtte Danish American Club Aalborg gennem uddeling af legater til uddannelsesrejser.
Next year in April the RNPS Annual Meeting & Convention will be held at the Grand View University (the only Danish-American founded university in the USA) in Des Moines, Iowa, from 7th – 11th April 2027, so mark your calendars, if you want to experience yet another of these interesting meetings/tours with social activities, networking, Gala, lifelong friendships and historical aspects of the Danish-American immigration to America.
This tour offers a Special Day Trip to the historic villages of Elk Horn and Kimbalton in Iowa, where you can see the Danish Windmill from Nørre Snede, the Museum of Danish America with a new arrival of a Thomas Dambo Troll, Fjord on the prairie, and the H.C. Andersen fairy tale park in Kimbalton and experience the Danishness profoundly shown in this community.
Registration opens on 1st December at https://www.rebildfesten.dk where you will also be able to read the program of the convention and more specific information. Please contact the office at Rebild for any questions regarding the convention.
Det er altid spændende hver 3. juli til den årlige Borgmesterfrokost at få afsløret Borgmesteren for en Dag, hvilket der er tradition for.
Aalborgs Borgmester og Præsidenten for DAK, Niels Guldbjerg, har altid æren af at præsentere den udvalgte Borgmester for en Dag.
I år måtte Aalborgs borgmester, Lasse Frimand Jensen, overdrage borgmesterkæden til Præsidenten for Chicago Midwest Rebild Chapter, Lars Rasmussen, som med stolthed bar den hele dagen.
Lars Rasmussen og hans kone, Bente, har været særdeles aktive i det dansk-amerikanske samfund i USA, hvor Lars har været Præsident for Dania Society of Chicago siden 2015, Præsident for Chicago Midwest Rebild Chapter siden 2017, og aktivt medlem af Danish American Athletic, The Danish Home of Chicago, Scandinavian Park, The Danish Sisterhood of America m.m.
Lars Rasmussen står for at arrangere den årlige ”Annual Scandinavian Park Painting Day” hver maj måned ved Vasa Park i South Elgin, Illinois. Her bidrager ca. 35 personer med at male og lave havearbejde en hel dag for at vedligeholde den smukke park, Vasa Park, i South Elgin.
Lars og Bente deltager som regel på Rebild Årsmøderne, som afholdes forskellige steder i USA, og de er altid villige til at give en hånd med i forberedelserne. I 2024 modtog de Rebilds Top Karens Pris.
Lars er ingeniør og en dygtig investeringsrådgiver med gode lederegenskaber, og det er der ikke noget at sige til, da han er en pålidelig, venlig, omsorgsfuld og gemytlig person. Lars engagerer sig helhjertet i det dansk-amerikanske samfund. Han er kendt for at tage mange billeder af de forskellige events i Rebild regi og dele dem med sin familie og venner på Facebook.
Lars og Bente bor i Libertyville, Illinois. De fejrer Guldbryllup i 2027. Deres to sønner og svigerdøtre og barnebarn bor også i USA.
DAK, Rebildselskabet og Aalborg Kommune ønsker Lars Rasmussen tillykke med titlen Borgmester for en Dag med tak for alt hvad han gør for det dansk-amerikanske samfund, hvilket han gør med et smil, med medfølelse, og med beslutsomhed, sammen med Bente.
Traditionen tro, var der ved Borgmesterfrokosten en tale for Amerika. I år blev det Deborah Lorenzen, CEO for Lorenzen Advisors, bosiddende i Aalborg, der leverede en fremragende tale om optimisme; et godt valgt emne for den tid, vi nu lever i.
Deborah Lorenzen er amerikaner og bor i Danmark med sin danske mand og børn, og hun beskriver sig selv på LinkedIn sådan:
“Experienced international executive and board chair with a strong track record in business transformation, digitalization, and cultural renewal. Over 30 years in leadership roles at State Street Global Advisors and BNY Mellon, across the U.S. and Europe. Based in Denmark, I focus on helping mid-sized companies strengthen governance, scale operations, and leverage new technology to drive growth and resilience. My board experience spans financial services, technology integration, and organizational culture — areas critical for companies navigating growth, internationalization, and professionalization. I bring a balanced, Nordic, and international approach to leadership — transparent, values-driven, and focused on long-term impact.”
Læs gerne om Deborahs danske rødder og interessante synspunkter i hendes tale nedenfor:
“””””
Thank you Quynh, Niels, and the Danish American Club, for the opportunity to speak for America today.
I am the wretched refuse of your teeming shores. I’m back. Today I’d like to talk about The American Dream, this belief that anyone, regardless of their background or social class, who your father was or where you came from, can achieve success through hard work, determination, and initiative. Remember that, anyone can, but not everyone will.
It is said that a pessimist is the one who can see all the problems. And an optimist sees all of the problems, but knows it can get worse. In that way, my grandfather was an optimist. He was the American Dream, that for him, things could get better.
He was born to a Danish family in Hjerpsted, in 1896. Being born in Germany he was conscripted with his brother in the first war and sent to France. He came home 4 years later, alone.
Hjerpsted is a hardscrabble place where the small trees grow sideways from the wind off the north sea, and dinner for him was fishhead soup because the fish themselves could be sold for money. When he voted to move the border south of Hjerpsted in 1920 he got Danish citizenship and a passport, but no work, so he used his passport to emigrate to California. He was chasing the American dream.
He arrived with nothing except a contact name to a fake cousin, and a certification that he was a smith, which he was not, but he had heard that skill could get him in the door. It worked. By the time the great depression came a few years later he had bought his first piece of land and a few cows to walk on it, a feat he could not have accomplished in the old country, as he called it. He had found and married Ingeborg and had two sons.
He was optimistic in the chaos of the great depression. He knew it could be worse. America is a land of optimists.
In the early 1930’s during the height of the depression, my grandfather came into the kitchen in the middle of the day, called his sons, and sliced off the thickest slices of bread the boys could remember seeing. Then he slathered them with pork fat and sprinkled salt on top. He packed them up and told the boys to follow him. At the end of the driveway was an old jalopy. In it was a family, fresh from Oklahoma. In the back seat the children were starving. Not hungry, starving, and the bread was for them. My father never forgot those children. That was part of his America. When things went bad for him, throughout his life, he knew it could be worse. But things kept getting better.
Since that time America has seen tremendous growth, the Marshall plan, Mccarthyism, the rise of Hollywood, Watergate, 1970s hyperinflation, 1980s hair, Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall, global dominance of geopolitical softpower. Meanwhile my father sent four children to college, a feat he never accomplished himself. He believed in the American Dream.
Today, on the eve of our 250th anniversary for my somewhat confusing, chaotic, optimistic, innovative, messed up, beautiful, strange nation, let me try to articulate how I, we, can stand at this particular inflection point and still be optimistic. How we can still believe in the American Dream.
With a career in financial services I spend a lot of time looking at economic data, market impacts, and strategic risks. Lately it is hard not to run around saying “the sky is falling, the sky is falling”! Is the American Dream in trouble?
If we look at the fundamentals, we can clearly see cracks. Let’s take 3 – Inflation, Interest Rates & the US equity markets.
● Inflation in the US at 4.2% at end of May
○ While the price of eggs specifically has fallen, volatile global energy prices, sticky housing markets and supply-chain disruptions are causing spikes in commodity prices. The pain points of gas, food, electricity and medical costs are hitting average Americans especially especially hard.
○ JP Morgan notes the high risk of negative growth – why don’t they say losses? – is raising unemployment rates. The ECB has already taken action to counter inflationary pressures, while the Fed has yet to move. Opening the strait of Hormuz will help, when it happens, but there is a lotyet to come before the energy markets stabilize.
● Interest rates: The fed funds rate is at 3.5% and prime at 6.75% which puts the 30 year fixed mortgage at around 6.5%, more than double the lows during the pandemic. – the era of cheap money is over.
○ Commercial Real Estate. Distressed office building sales are accelerating in 2026 as post-pandemic leases finally expire. In Chicago , for example, a vacant landmark from the late 1800s recently sold for $4 million, a 90% discount off its $68 million sale price ten years ago. There are lots more like that one.
○ In family housing: Higher interest rates have also stagnated the market, since people sitting with a 30 year fixed mortgage at 3% are loath to give that up for a new home at double the rate. The Census Bureau shows both single family housing starts, and completions, are down YTD, and multi-family homes are forecast to decline around 5%. This, when the Federal Reserve noted in May a structural shortage of 1-4 million homes. We have a shortfall but nobody is building.
● Last, lets turn to the Equity Market:
○ Index funds own 20% of the available shares in the US stock market, and the index funds themselves are ultimately owned by consumers through pension funds. While it takes a brilliant mind to get a fund to track the market exactly, the funds themselves don’t think before they buy – if it is in the market it is in the index. Indexes are considered safer since they are a buy on the broad market, rather than an individual stock.
That safety is being challenged right now. For example, Nasdaq usually waits 12 months before including newly issued companies in the index. For the recent SpaceX IPO, the year has been waived down to 15 days. That means Nasdaq index funds will begin buying SpaceX shares on Monday. Due to lockups, only about 4% of the shares are publicly available now, so while the indexes will be forced to buy in on Monday, there isn’t much stock around, causing volatility and likely driving up the price due to demand, rather than any valuation. The Chief Economist at Apollo, Torsten Slok , another Dane, noted recently that “Prices are increasingly set by mechanical flows rather than by anyone judging what companies are actually worth.”
My personal belief is that this kind of market shenanigans, where powerful wall street players – those who control the Nasdaq – bend the rules to favor holders of locked up SpaceX stock, e.g., powerful wall street players, will make a nice book for Michael Lewis in a few years time.
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!*
What does all this mean for the American Dream? Can things get better? Well, egg prices are down! The Knicks won the series!
No, seriously. That vacant landmark which sold at a 90% discount? Bought on them cheap, it is now being re-envisioned as a vertical urban farm, alongside a health research center, a rooftop garden, and a portion of the building into student and senior housing. The new owners are optimistic they can build a whole new hub of innovation.
That Trillion dollar IPO which is roiling the financial markets, was issued by a South African immigrant who became a naturalized citizen first in 2002. He is optimistic about making it to Mars in the 2030’s. In fact, immigrants cofounded nearly 60% of America’s unicorns – billion-dollar startups. For some people, things are definitely getting better!
The American Dream, this belief that anyone can achieve success through hard work, says that anyone can. It doesn’t say that everyone will. This innovation, renovation, this constant chaos and turnover is part of our DNA. It also has sharp edges and often leaves a mess. And we only like to talk about the winners.
At the same time my grandmother Ingeborg’s family was emigrating from Southern Jutland, Jacob Riis, another Dane, was taking pictures of the slums of New York, showing us all how the other half lives. Today there are homeless encampments bordering Silicon Valley as the haves and have nots pretend not to see each other.
The question we must continue to ask ourselves is not if the American Dream is still alive, but if we indeed want it to be, or if so, to what extent. Maybe it is time for a new dream, one with universal housing and healthcare, and state supported higher education. Traits that might lead a country to be named both the happiest country in the world, and the best country for women. Wait, that is the other speech…
Perhaps we can be optimistic enough to believe that when the current market inevitably falls off the cliff, the need will be so great and so visible that we come together as a nation to form the next New Deal. And that the new New Deal will yet again propel America, and Americans, forward into even greater success over the next 250 years. Perhaps.
In the meantime, I’ll stay optimistic.
Please join me in raising a glass to my flag. To my country. With all our hopes and dreams, our opportunities and imperfections. My confusing, chaotic, optimistic, innovative, messed up, beautiful, strange nation, the United States of America.
“”””””
*The expression “The sky is falling” originates from a European folktale, Chicken Little. In the story, someone is hit on the head by a falling acorn, and believes the sky is falling and runs around warning, “The sky is falling!”. The idiom is generally used as fearmongering.
