Lögberg-Heimskringla - 20.08.1999, Blaðsíða 8

8 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 20 August 1999
President Grímsson
Continued from page 3
with an illuminated scroll created by B.
J. Wunder, listing the Icelandic Reeves
and Councillors who have served the
R.M., and the two-volume Elfros histo-
ry book which includes the history of
Mozart, Leslie, and many of the area’s
one-room country school districts.
The President presented the
Vatnabyggd Club with the new English
version of the Icelandic Sagas, explain-
ing that they are “books which describe
the first Icelandic settlers in Canada one
thousand years ago, how they lived
here, how they crossed the ocean, how
they had their families here and went to
Iceland again.” The sagas include the
stories of Leifur and of Guðríður
Þorbjarnardóttir, the mother of Snorri,
the first European child born in North
America.
“There is so much emphasis on
Leifur,” President Grímsson said later,
during a brief interview. “We’ve forgot-
ten the great story of Guðríður—and we
know much more about her. Liefur was
bom in Greenland, went to Iceland, dis-
covered Canada—and disappears.
Guðríður died an old woman in Iceland
and we know everything about her.”
Following her stay in Canada, Guðríður
travelled from Iceland to Rome to report
to the Vatican on the vikings’ discover-
ies in the New World.
From Elfros, the official party drove
to Foam Lake for a luncheon organized
by Gloria Leader and the Town of Foam
Lake. On behalf of the Town, Mayor
Ray King presented the President with a
prairie watercolour. Dalla, the
President’s twenty-three-year-old
daughter, received a Foam Lake tee
shirt.
Former Foam Lake Mayor Helgi
Loptson brought greetings from the
Icelandic community, in both Icelandic
and English, and Lorayne Janeson
offered a bilingual grace. The President,
as he often did during the day, told the
crowd how moved he was to hear the
Icelandic language spoken and to hear
family stories. After lunch, he took time
to visit with each person in the
Community Hall, initiating a flurry of
posed photos with family groups and
autograph signing.
The highlight of the visit to Bob
Eyolfson’s large grain farm, where
about seventy-five people gathered to
meet the Icelandic delegation and to
enjoy a garden coffee party with bone
china and fresh cut flowers, was the
President’s first ride on a sprayer.
Accompanied only by Bob and with the
Icelandic flag flying, the President had a
tour of fields and a lesson in maneuver-
ing a major piece of equipment—the
President drove the retum leg. As a sou-
venir of the driving lesson, Bob present-
ed the President with a B.W. Seeds cap
and a cap from the sprayer company.
One of the President’s most often
used phrases is “Tell me...” and the trip
to Wynyard included a discussion with a
Club member about homesteads, fields,
and prairie farming. A visit to Maple
Grove provided the seniors from across
the Vatnabyggd area to enjoy their own
time with the President and the other
members of the official party. The
President had high praise for the
Icelandic pancakes. Pete Peterson pre-
sented the President with a cutaway of a
grain elevator filled with various grains.
Icelandic farmers and entrepreneurs
met the President over coffee and
doughnuts at Amma’s House, Eric
Olafson’s bed and breakfast along
Highway 16 at Kandahar. One of the
missions of this visit, the President said,
was to establish strong trading ties with-
in the northem regions of the globe and
to bring Canadian entrepreneurs and
business leaders into co-operative trade
with Iceland.
The final event was a dinner in
Wynyard’s Civic Centre. The official
ceremonies began with the two national
anthems led by the Vatnabyggd
Icelandic choir, a ninety-three-year-old
institution in the area.
“Thank you very much for the spir-
it I have felt among you in greeting me
and my daughter and the people who
have come with me to Vatnabyggd,” the
President said in his final formal speech
of the day. “It has indeed been a very
moving experience and it will take a
time for me to sort out in my mind and
in my heart the implications of the expe-
rience and the lessons you have taught
me and my delegation today.”
Again, the President paid homage to
the pioneers and to the Club members
who created the Elfros memorial. “If
anyone has doubts about the spirit of the
community, I would advise him or her
to join me to a visit to the statue which
shows the true essence of the Icelandic
people, the husband and wife joined in
reading the Icelandic book,” he said.
“Being here tonight we are not only
rejoicing and you are not only welcom-
ing me and I am not only coming here to
know you but we are above all honour-
ing your forefathers and foremothers
who established the community which
has given you your roots and has given
us in Iceland a new dimension to our
history,” he said. “It is with great respect
and humility that I come to honour these
pioneers.”
The Vatnabyggd Club presented the
President with a framed photo of the
statue and a copy of Ron Richardson’s
coffee table photo book, It’s Just
Prairie. To Dalla, the Club presented
“the local fashion statement,” the
Vatnabyggd Club tee shirts. President
Grímsson was made an honourary
member of the Vatnabyggd Club, and
promptly responded that the act “enti-
tles me to all the benefits that are listed
by the Club president. It also entitles me
to read the sagas which I gave you today
so you have one more name on your list
waiting for the books.” President
Grímsson surprised Stella Stephanson
and Joan Eyolfson Cadham with gifts of
the last two crystal depictions of the
Althing rock, an item commissioned by
the President and his late wife, Guðrún
Katrín. “Although Joan is a certified
Icelander,” he said, “Stella (who is
Polish) has become a great presentation
of what is best in Icelandic women.”
Club members, who were delighted
with the size and enthusiasm of the
crowds who came out to meet the
Icelandic delegation, are hopeful that, in
the long run, the lasting benefit will be
economic and cultural exchanges.
Enjoy a favourably priced
Friday smorg,
either lunch or evening
at the Nordic House of Canada
— the cultural home of the
Winnipeg Frón
Membership in the club is not required.
764 Erin Street, Winnipeg
Telephone: (204) 774-8047
Iceland is on the way
—not out of the way
6 6TX That we have got that others
VV don’t have is Iceland,” said
Sigurður Helgason, President and CEO of
Icelandair during his presentation on
Icelandair’s policy for the coming years at
a breakfast meeting at the Manitoba Club
on August 3. Mr. Helgason made a brief
stop in Winnipeg before returning to
Iceland, having visited Gimli’s Islendin-
gadagurinn where, as one of two main
speakers, he delivered this year’s “Toast
to Canada.” The presentation, arranged by
the Consulate of Iceland, provided a good
deal of information to a group of reporters
and members of the Icelandic community
involved in communication and travel.
Three years ago, Icelandair began
flights between Halifax, Nova Scotia and
Keflavík, Iceland. The result of this exper-
iment was so successful that Icelandair
now wants to increase the flights from
three per week to five. However, the
Canadian Government has not given per-
mission for the increase. Two years ago,
Icelandair began direct flights between
Minneapolis and Iceland which have also
been successful.
“So, who wants to go to Halifax?” is
a question frequently asked! It appears
that not only Icelanders and Canadians
are taking advantage of the convenient
flights—as well as a lot of fish—but also
Europeans, with Germans in the majority,
who enjoy cottages and golf courses in
Nova Scotia.
When asked about the prospect of fly-
ing to Winnipeg, Mr. Helgason said that
they must first fully explore further uti-
lization of the flights to Halifax, as the
five day service would be more ecónomi-
cal for the company. Icelandair now
awaits an important meeting in this mat-
ter, between the Icelandic and Canadian
Govemments.
Mr. Helgason told the group that
tourism is fast growing in Iceland and
now ranks second to the fishing industry
in bringing in foreign currency. Iceland’s
nature “like no other” offers many unex-
pected sights and experiences, ranging
from glaciers, waterfalls, geysers and
lavafields. Eco-tours are popular, offering
whale-watching trips, round-up trips, din-
ners on the glacier, horse riding for the
whole family, coffee house in the bam, or
a warm dip into the Blue Lagoon, a geo-
thermal run-off pool and facilities, which
have recently been reconstracted.
How does Icelandair, a small, private-
ly-owned company, succeeds in the hard
fought airline business today, where
industry giants stmggle to hold their own?
The answer is, they go after the niche
market, fly smaller airplanes (Boeing
757s), and offer shorter travel time, as
well as excellent service and food on their
flights. They also offer uncrowded, attrac-
tive facilities at Leif’s Airport in Iceland.
In addition to this, Mr. Helgason
pointed out a key fáctor that “Iceland is on
the way, not out of the way” when travel-
ling between North America and Europe.
Although it may appear out of the way
when looking at a flat map, seen from the
air Iceland is located directly between
Canada and Europe, and as such it offers
a mid-Atlantic hub.
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