Lögberg-Heimskringla - 22.04.1994, Blaðsíða 1

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Inside this week:
Heimskringla
The lcelandic Weekly
Lögberg Stofnaö 14. janúar 1888 Heimskringla Stofnaö 9. september 1886
Last days in Reykjavík.................2
The Unitarian Split.....................3
Sign up now.............................4
Þorrablót in Kansas City................4
Word Search.............................7
108. Árgangur Föstudagur 22. apríl 1994
108th Year Publications Mail Registration No. 1667 Friday, 22 April 1994 ■
Númer 14
Number 14
lcelandic
News
Salmon fishing:
■ 39,000 salmon were caught by sport
fishermen last year. Norðurá in Borgar-
fjörður was at the top of the list with
2,026 salmon. Hofsá in Vopnafjörður was
next with just a few less, then Laxá í
Aðaldalur with l,978 and fourth was
þverá in Borgarfjörður with l,553 salmon.
The largest salmon were from Svalbarðsá
in Þistilfjörður, a 27 pound fish and a
26.5 pound fish from Hvítá eystri.
Popular tours:
■ The travel bureau Norden Tours in
Hamburg, Germany, offers many tours to
•celand this summer and has published a
special booklet regarding tours to
lceland and Greenland. Norden Tours
offers, for example, Jeep tours for small
groups through lceland's interior; walk-
ing tours through three national parks
with travel between parks by bus; and
bus tours to points of interest in lcelandic
landscape; as well as circle tours around
lceland with overnight stays in hotels or
tents. In the booklet there is much
emphasis on lceland's interior. Cruises
are also advertised from Hamburg to
lceland and Greenland. According to
Ingrid Hildebrandt, an employee of
Norden Tours, there is great interest in
lceland tours.
A Face Lift for
Skúlagata:
■ Skúlagata has received a face lift with
the building of senior citizens' homes.
There are 94 suites, mostly two bed-
room, with just over 100 residents. The
building above is eleven stories high,
but the others are five stories. On the
main floor is a 1,800 square meter ser-
vice area and a two-story underground
parking lot for 223 cars.
The architects are Hróbjartur
Hróbjarsson, Sigurður Björgúlfsson,
Sigríður Sigþórsdóttir and Richard Ólafur
Briem.
GUNNUR ISFELD

INL gathers in Selkirk
Crescentwood MLA, Avis Gray, presents a cheque for $10,000 on behalfofthe Honourable Sheila
Finestone, Secretary of State, Multiculturalism and Status of Women, Canada to lcelandic National
League President, Helgi Austman and Past President, Evelyn Thorvaldson.
This cheque is a portion of a grant received for the lcelandic National League's 75th Annual
Convention which is being held in Selkirk, Manitoba, April 22, 23, and 24th of this year.
Celebrating Seventy-Five Years
This weekend the
Icelandic National
League gathers in
Selkirk for its annual con-
vention, This year it is host-
ed by Selkirk’s Bruin chap-
ter of the INL in honor of
the lOOth anniversary of
Sumardagurinn Fyrsti in
this Manitoba town. The
convention will also honor
the 75th anniversaiy of the
founding of the Icelandic
National League.
The INL since its foun-
dation has played an
important part in preserv-
ing the Icelandic culture
and heritage in North
America. It has probably
never had a more difficult
role than it has now, as the
generations pass and the
Western Icelanders grow
more and more distant
from the Fatherland,
The language is rapidly
disappearing, people are
forgetting their culture,
their heritage, their history.
The INL helps to prevent
that erosion. Through its
chapters and its central
organization it helps to
promote and preserve the
Icelandic presence in
North America.
INL President Helgi
Austmann predicts a lot of
action at this year’s con-
vention. There will be the
usual exchange of news
and views as the chapters
come together — the only
time in year that they have
the opportunity to do it
face to face.
Fundraising and mem-
bership are major concerns,
but anything can come up
at the workshops that will
be held on Saturday. There
are two major projects in
the works: the Guttormur
Guttormsson memorial and
the Iceland ‘94 conference
set for July, but as Helgi
says, anything can happen.
It should be an interest-
ing weekend, as it always
is when a large number of
Icelanders get together, as
well as an important one.
Watch for complete cover-
age in the next issue of
Lögberg-Heimskríngla.
T.O.
The Icelandic Nation-
al League as we
know it was estab-
lished in Winnipeg in 1919.
This was a crystalization of
a vision for preserving the
heritage and language that
originated with the forma-
tion of the Icelandic Asso-
ciation of Milwaukee
in 1874 on the occasion
of Iceland’s Millennium
(when the Danish King
granted legislative authority
to the Alþing). This Asso-
ciation was short-lived due
to the dispersal of the
Icelanders to Minnesota
and New Iceland. They
took their vision with them
and new organizations were
formed in Minnesota and
Winnipeg (The Icelandic
Club).
The actual formation of
clubs as a league was ham-
pered by the First World
War (1914 -1918) when a
profound mistrust of any-
thing foreign developed in
Canada and the United
States. On January 27, 1919
a committee of 30 men and
women set to work prepar-
ing for an inaugural meet-
ing. On February 12 and 13,
a notice to all Icelanders in
North America was placed
in Lögberg and Heims-
kringla outlining the neces-
sity and usefulness of such
an organization. It was not
until March 25, 1919, at the
Good Templars Hall, on
Sargent Avenue, that thirty-
two delegates from the dif-
ferent districts of Sask-
atchewan, North Dakota
and Manitoba unanimously
passed the establishment of
the Icelandic National
League. The original name
chosen was “the Icelandic
Society” but later changed
to the present name.
The dedication of the
representatives was remark-
able considering the diffi-
culties facing them such as
transportation, weather and
expense. These difficulties
were overcome because of
the value they placed on the
preservation of the Ice-
landic heritage which was
all they had to give to their
descendants in this new
land. To accomplish this
intent, a mandate was
agreed upon which remain
svirtually the same today.
The original read as follows:
I. to promote with all our
power that Icelanders
become the best citizens in
their countiy.
II. to support and
strengthen the Icelandic
language and literature in
North America.
III. to promote co-opera-
tion and friendship among
Icelanders on both sides of
the Atlantic.
As we look at the record
of the seventy five years that
the Icelandic National
League has been in exis-
tence, the first task was to
set up chapters.
There have been thirty
one chapters and clubs
established across North
America who participated
in the work of the INL.
Cont'd. page 5