-Photo by Hans Madsen Freshly crowned 2022 Lucia Bailey Anderson, of Paton, leads the procession out of the church Saturday during the St. Lucia Day Celebration at Stratford Lutheran Church. The annual event is sponsored by the Swedish Foundation of Iowa's Swede Bend Settlement, Inc. and the Swedish Immigrant Museum in Stratford.

STRATFORD — You never know what’s going to happen when you come to Iowa to visit relatives who then attend the St. Lucia Day Celebration at Stratford Lutheran Church.

Adam Johnson, 9, of Schaumburg, Illinois, found that out Saturday when he got tapped to be a last minute fill-in for a Tomten that was home sick.

What’s a Tomten? It’s a mischievous creature that lives on Swedish farms and helps watch over the animals and crops. The human version wears mittens, a tall red cone-shaped hat and a very Tomten-like fake beard that’s a bit itchy.

“I don’t think I’ll tell my friends,” Johnson said. “It’s a little embarrassing.”

The Lucia Maidens and the eventually-selected Lucia are the stars of the celebration. In Sweden their job is to wake the family after staying up all night, offer rolls and guide. Usually the oldest girl in the family is selected.

In Stratford, the selection is done by drawing their names out of a glass bowl.

Bailey Anderson, 17, of Paton, got the honorific this year. The reigning Lucia, Morgan Paulson, 16, of Boone, helped her out with her acceptance statement.

“Say I’m very humbled by this experience,” Paulson said.

“I’m a little shy,” Anderson replied.

Paulson was selected in 2019. She’s enjoyed an unusually long reign since the annual celebration was among the many things that got Covid-cancelled in 2020 and 2021.

From its inception in 2004 to 2019, the event was organized by Carol Larson, who died on Dec. 14, 2020.

Larson is missed.

“She was so funny,” Paulson said. “She helped me tie the sash; I couldn’t do it to save my life. She also had the best stories.”

Larson’s legacy was still there. Hand-painted Tomte graced the tables during the after-celebration coffee and her son, Jay Larson, of Stratford, selected the Lucia by drawing her name from the glass bowl.

“She loved to give,” he said. “Food, time and love.”

During her life, she painted hundreds of the wooden Tomten.

“They’re all over my house,” he said.

Another tradition from Sweden was enjoyed Saturday too. A whole almond was hidden in the rice pudding; the person who finds it gets a small gift.

Carol Angstrom, of Stratford, found it.

“I turned the pudding over and it was on the bottom,” she said.

The St. Lucia Day Celebration is sponsored by the Swedish Foundation of Iowa’s “Swede Bend” Settlement Inc. and the Swedish Immigrant Museum in Stratford.