Here on St Barts island, we typically don’t need a reason to throw a party.  However, we’ve come up with one, and this time, it’s to celebrate where we’ve been.

In November of 2008, the island will host “Swedish Week” to celebrate the 130th anniversary of the retrocession of St Barth to Sweden; the official date of the anniversary is March 16th, 2008, but it was decided that Swedish Week will be held in November so that it can close with the 18th annual running of the Gustavialoppet 10km race.

In a recent issue of St Barths Weekly, Swedish Week is discussed at length.  Spearheading the planning are Roger Richter, president of Sallskapet and Nils Dufau, president of the Association of Saint Barth Friends of Sweden. They came up with the idea for a celebration after they came to realize that there are many people who do not know the Swedish history of Saint Barth. Just as the people of Saint Barth created a mini-version of our island during “The Colony Project,” held in Skansen, the people of Sweden hope to bring the same to our home base.

Details of the activities for the week are obviously not yet firmed up.  But, you can bet that as soon as I know what’s going to be happening, I’ll pass it along to you!