Nokomis Days and Why it Matters
Dennis Wallisch
Director of Worship and Music
Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church
Director of Worship and Music
Lake Nokomis Lutheran Church
August 5, 2026
For the last several months, Lake Nokomis Lutheran and the partner congregations of New Branches have been planning and promoting Nokomis Days, asking for volunteers, lining up musicians, and buying supplies.
But before we knew it (and 400 hot dogs later), it was time to put it all away. An event like Nokomis Days can feel similar to a Thanksgiving dinner, worked on and fussed over for hours only to be consumed in a short span of time. It can feel like a lot of hullabaloo for just one day.
Sarah Friedman, Director of the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA) attended the event as a mom and a neighbor. Her biggest takeaway was how inclusive New Branches felt to her, and not only because we celebrated Pride and had a giant new LGBTQ sign on the front of the building. There were so many face painters that she didn’t have to wait in line. Veggie brats were served to people who needed them. And her greatest joy was that she could bring her children into a place that supports our immigrant friends so strongly, which, for her, is both hopeful and personal.
The truth of the matter is that all that hullabaloo is the work. In fact, it’s part of the responsibility we have, as the body of Christ, to live out and into the truest core value of ‘loving God and loving neighbor,’– alongside, and not separate from, the New Branches identity of ‘a home for faith and community.’
That’s it! And we are living it out in a huge way in this neighborhood, not just for one day, but for many, and the neighborhood knows it, and they come because this is a place of welcome; a safe place; a place of love.
And so, it matters. The work of one day is the work of many days. Thank you all for being a part of it, for being community and being neighbor.
But before we knew it (and 400 hot dogs later), it was time to put it all away. An event like Nokomis Days can feel similar to a Thanksgiving dinner, worked on and fussed over for hours only to be consumed in a short span of time. It can feel like a lot of hullabaloo for just one day.
Sarah Friedman, Director of the Nokomis East Neighborhood Association (NENA) attended the event as a mom and a neighbor. Her biggest takeaway was how inclusive New Branches felt to her, and not only because we celebrated Pride and had a giant new LGBTQ sign on the front of the building. There were so many face painters that she didn’t have to wait in line. Veggie brats were served to people who needed them. And her greatest joy was that she could bring her children into a place that supports our immigrant friends so strongly, which, for her, is both hopeful and personal.
The truth of the matter is that all that hullabaloo is the work. In fact, it’s part of the responsibility we have, as the body of Christ, to live out and into the truest core value of ‘loving God and loving neighbor,’– alongside, and not separate from, the New Branches identity of ‘a home for faith and community.’
That’s it! And we are living it out in a huge way in this neighborhood, not just for one day, but for many, and the neighborhood knows it, and they come because this is a place of welcome; a safe place; a place of love.
And so, it matters. The work of one day is the work of many days. Thank you all for being a part of it, for being community and being neighbor.