Lögberg-Heimskringla - 21.10.2005, Blaðsíða 16

16 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 21 October 2005
Important anninversary, gala dinner in Gimli
2005 marks 130 years of Icelandic settlement, 5th anniversay ofNIHM’s new home
David Jón Fuller
The year 2005 is an auspi-
cious one for the Gimli com-
munity and the New Iceland
Heritage Museum (NIHM).
Not only does it mark 130 years
since the Icelandic settlers ar-
rived at Willow Point, Manito-
ba in what would become New
Iceland, but the museum also
celebrates five years at its cur-
rent location in the Betel Wa-
terfront Centre.
As in past years, the anni-
versary of the settlement will
be commemorated with the
“Walk to the Rock” from Gimli
to Willow Point on October 21.
The next evening, the NIHM
will hold a gala dinner, fea-
turing an address by designer
Linda Lundström and Icelan-
dic musical entertainment by
Maria’s Legacy. Among the
special guests attending will
be former Icelandic Consul
Svavar Gestsson (who since
leaving Manitoba has been Ice-
land’s ambassador to Sweden,
and is now about to become its
ambassador to Denmark) and
his wife Guðrún Ágústsdót-
tir. Also attending will be Ice-
land’s Consul General Atli Ás-
mundsson and his wife Þrúður
Helgadóttir.
CatherineRoberston, Busi-
ness Development Officer for
NIHM, is coordinating the gala
dinner. Originally from Elk-
hom, MB, she worked at both
the Riverton and Gimli Credit
Unions before taking her new
position at the museum.
She says she originally got
the idea to invite Linda Lund-
ström to speak at the event
when she learned Lundström’s
aunt, Meta Johnson, lives at the
Waterfront Centre. It seemed
a natural fit. In short order she
had worked out an arrangment
with the fashion designer and
the evnt began to come togeth-
er. “I have a Linda Lundström
parka myself,” adds Robertson,
noting that Lundström is well-
known both in the Icelandic
and in the wider community.
Linda Lundström is a sto-
ryteller, and when she speaks
at a gala dinner this weekend
at the New Iceland Heritage
Museum (NIHM), she’s sure to
include a few stories.
Of course, she is known
more for her fashion design,
heading up her eponymous
company in Toronto, ON.
Though she doesn’t script
her speeches, she has many
things in rnind that she plans to
talk about at the dinner, linking
them to the Icelandic heritage.
Her mother’s family is
of Icelandic descent and has
strong ties to Manitoba’s Inter-
lake area, and her father’s fam-
ily is of Swedish origin. “Both
sets of my grandparents were
from above the Arctic circle,”
she says, adding that the influ-
ence her heritage has had over
her life is often at a subcon-
scious level.
As an example, she men-
tions the fact that she designs
winter clothing for women that
are “fun, sexy and attractive
— and why not?” It’s probably
that Nordic blood.
She also muses on what it
means to be Icelandic, which
she says is very important to her
own sense of identity. “What
is it that makes it unique? Be-
cause it’s more than just vínar-
terta.”
Her visit came about after
having met Catherine Robert-
son, Business Development
Officer for NIHM, in Winni-
peg.
“It’s as if my life, and the
path of the New Iceland Heri-
tage Museum are connected,”
says Lundström. “They’re sep-
arate paths, but they’re being
brought together at this event.”
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