Temps May Sizzle But Danish Band Will Strike Up Music in Mokena Saturday

Mokena is going for Danish this weekend.

At 6 p.m. Saturday, July 23, the Mokena and St. John's United Church of Christ welcome the 56-year-old Saeby (Denmark) Garden Concert Band as it performs a free concert on the village land at

If weather is bad, the concert will move into the church's community center.

Though the band hails from Denmark, the early evening concert will cover a wide range music, said Dee Block who is spearheading visitor housing.

"You'll hear salsa, funk, jazz and more as well as classical Danish music," said Block, a member of the Mokena Community Affairs Commission.

The concert will indeed be eclectic, and for most Mokena residents, the one event will be their main connection to the Scandinavian visitors.

Sae-what?

Hugging the Northeast coast of Denmark on the Laeso Rende (strait), the town of Saeby (pronounced say’be) with fewer than 9,000 residents has maintained a musical connection to the Midwest for many years, Block said.

From Saturday through Tuesday, . Musicians in the community band range in age from 11 to 60, Block said.

The Midwest-Saeby relationship was launched years ago with students from Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp in western Michigan. Block's link began when her now-adult son was a student at Blue Lake, a number of years ago. The exchange works both ways with Blue Lake band students visiting Saeby.

Block said the back and forth travels provide much more than music for visitors and hosts.

"My involvement really is out of an incredible desire to provide young people the opportunity to connect with others around the world," she said. "The visitors will have a day downtown, and the host families become so involved."

"Our kids always arrange a flag football game and volleyball. But the guests all want to play baseball and just share everything that is so American," she said. "When they are here, they do have a truly American experience."

"For those who go to Saeby or to Europe via this or any other program, it means they've always got a family in Europe."

Connections and Knowledge

International exchange programs in which she is involved provide much more than connections around the world, Block said.

"It's about expanding our knowledge of other cultures," she said.

Block said of the many, many times she and her husband have played host to foreigner visitors, one sticks out in particular.

"We had a couple of guests, including a young Muslim man from Egypt here as part of a summer exchange. During an energetic conversation about internationalism, I let the young man know he had been a guest in the home of a man who grew up Jewish," she said. "It was obvious the young Muslim was immediately uncomfortable and quietly said he had never met a Jewish man before."

"Our conversation turned to an easy subject, the very similar dietary restrictions of both Jewish and Muslim faiths. The young man had never had the opportunity to be part of a multicultural group, and with another visitor, our conversation turned to the differences of our cultures and more importantly the similarities.

"These international exchanges provide us with an eye into the rest of the world and also give us the opportunity to understand why we are different as well as how we all are alike."