Lögberg-Heimskringla - 09.04.2004, Blaðsíða 3

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstuaagur 9. apríl 2004 • 3
PHOTO COURTESY OF ERNIE AND DONNA EINARSSON
Wincie Johannsdóttir, Bill Holm, Anna Sigga Helgadóttir, and Valgeir Thorvaldsson.
Hofsós Emigration Centre
comes to Victoria, BC
Eric Clemens
VlCTORIA, BC
On Thursday evening,
March 25, an appreciative
audience of some 40 people
gathered at the University of
Victoria for a presentation
about the Emigration Centre
at Hofsós, Iceland, along with
entertainment by author Bill
Holm of Minneota, Minneso-
ta, and Icelandic singer Anna
Sigga Helgadóttir. The
evening was arranged by the
Icelanders of Victoria, with
the assistance of the Richard
and Margaret Beck Trust.
Wincie Jóhannsdóttir,
Director of Culture and Edu-
cation at the Hofsós Centre
and Vice President of the Ice-
landic National League t—
Iceland, began with a brief
discussion of the INL — Ice-
land and its various cultural
activities, including
exchanges, the Snorri pro-
grams and support for the
Emigration Centre. She then
introduced Valgeir Thorvalds-
son, the Director of the Centre
and the the driving force
behind the transformation of
Hofsós, a declining fishing
village of less than 200 peo-
ple, into a centre of consider-
able cultural importance to
people of Icelandic descent.
With the aid of an excel-
lent Powerpoint presentation,
Wincie and Valgeir described
how Valgeir brought his tal-
ents as a carpenter to the
restoration of various build-
ings in Hofsós and how the
Emigration Centre has
evolved. It was founded in
1996 to commemorate the 16
to 18 thousand Icelanders (out
of a population of 80,000)
who emigrated to North
America between about 1850
and 1920, and to promote
contact between today’s
descendants of the emigrants
and the people of Iceland. The
Centre staff collects and cata-
logues information about the
emigration, operates a library,
offers a genealogy service and
organizes exhibits.
The Hofsós Emigration
Centre has become something
of a “must see” tourist attrac-
tion. A new hotel is being
developed to meet the
increasing demand for
accommodation in the area,
which is about a four-hour
drive from Reykjavík and one
and a half hours from
Akureyri. In July 2003, the
Centre celebrated its first
annual North American Ice-
landers’ Day, featuring a
youth choir from Arborg,
Manitoba. Later in the year it
was visited by a Canadian
delegation led by Governor
General Adrienne Clarkson.
Following the Hofsós
presentation, Bill Holm intro-
duced mezzo soprano Anna
Sigga Helgadóttir as a versa-
tile singer of classical, comic
and other songs, including the
blues. Anna Sigga is well
known in Iceland for her won-
derful voice and delightful
sense of humour, both of
which were very rnuch in evi-
dence this evening. She sang
four Icelandic songs, accom-
panied by Bill on the key-
board, and then took a rest
while Bill entertained the
audience with humorous sto-
ries about his own times in
Hofsós, where he now owns a
house, and readings from
Playing the Black Piano, his
new book of poetry. Anna
Sigga then sang four more
pieces, with the audience
enthusiastically responding to
her invitation to join her in
singing the last one.
The evening concluded
with informal discussions and
a selection of cookies, cakes
and coffee provided by Fred
Bjarnason. Special thanks go
to Fred and Patricia Baer for
their work in organizing a
splendid, Stimulating evenl.
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Pharmacist: V. T. Eyolfson
Store Hours: Mon. - Sat. 9 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Fri. 9 a.m. - 8 p.m. Sun. noon - 4 p.m.
^ Box 640, Arborg, MB ROC 0A0 Ph: 376-5153
Icelandic cultural
event draws 150
to Grand Forks
Judith Ree Hensle
Mayville, ND
Speakers and performers
from the emigration center at
Hofsós, Iceland, attracted a
150 persons of Icelandic her-
itage to Grand Forks, ND, on
Sunday, March 21 as a first
step toward formation of
another Icelandic Club in
northeastem North Dakota and
northwestern Minnesota.
Arrangements for the gath-
ering were by George Free-
man, retired power company
employee. Freeman expressed
a goal aim to form an Icelandic
club in the Grand Forks area,
similar to the club already
active at Fargo-Moorhead.
Members of that club were
among those attending Sun-
day’s event.
Wincie Jóhannsdóttir,
director of culture and educa-
tion for the Icelandic Emigra-
tion Center in Hofsós, Iceland,
was at the table in the theatre
lobby for signups by persons of
Icelandic Heritage. She also
detailed the efforts made to
date to restore the Hofsos vil-
lage. The cultural program,
which featured Iceland’s
mezzo soprano, Anna Sigríður
Helgadóttir, was from the stage
of the renovated theatre of
Grand Forks downtown sector
on Demers Avenue.
Bill Holm, Minnesota
writer and musician of Ice-
landic heritage, accompanied
Anna Sigga in lighthearted and
serious songs and opera arias.
Holm conducts workshops at
the emigration center in sum-
mer months and recently pub-
lished a book of his poetry,
Playing the Black Piano.
An exhibit of items from
the environment endured by
PHOTO: JUDITH REE HENSLE
Cultural program MC Kirk
Olafson, Edinburg, and the
Icelandic mezzo Anna
Sigridur Helgadóttir lead the
audience in singing the Ice-
landic national anthem.
the first immigrants from Ice-
land was given from North
Dakota in 2002. A CD,
Prairies Wide and Free, of that
exhibit was presented by the
director of the Icelandic Emi-
gration Centre, Valgeir Thor-
valdsson, to Magnus Olafson,
Edinburg, who serves as treas-
urer for the Northeastern North
Dakota Icelandic Heritage
association. Olafson was
instrumental in promoting the
exhibit.
The IEC was founded in
1996 to commemorate the Ice-
landic emigrants to North
America and to promote con-
tact between their descendants
and the people of Iceland. The
Center’s staff collects and cata-
logs information on the emi-
gration and offers a genealogy
service and library facilities. .
Celebrating a North Amer-
ican Icelanders day was initiat-
ed last July with a youth choir
visiting from Manitoba.
-----s
JLeefcnzf
www.icelandnaturally.com
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