Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.12.2007, Side 8

8 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • 15 December 2007
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A bold vision for Mountain, ND
Community Center will be hub of area’s activity
David Jón Fuller
The community of Moun-tain, ND is planning for a bright future with the
Mountain Community Center
Capital Campaign, co-chaired
by Mayor of Mountain Tim
Moore and North Dakota State
Senator Curtis Olafson.
The Mountain Community
Center will be a new 14,400
square foot facility that pro-
vides a modern, multi-pur-
pose facility for the City of
Mountain and the surround-
ing region. It will house the
Mountain Chalet Cafe, with
increased seating capacity and
a state-of-the-art kitchen, and
a banquet area with a cater-
ing kitchen. An Internet café
is part of the plan, the Moun-
tain Fire Department will be
able to house all its vehicles
and equipment under one roof,
and there will be offi ces for
the City of Mountain, Pembina
Hills Lutheran Church, and the
Icelandic Communities As-
sociation. The projected total
budget is $1,260,000.
“The vision is ambitious for
a small community, but if you
consider the fact that all need-
ed community services will be
placed under one roof in one
very effi cient building, the size
of the building becomes very
practical,” says Senator Olaf-
son, who is also President of
the Icelandic Communites As-
sociation of North Dakota, and
has been involved for years in
Mountain’s annual Deuce of
August Icelandic Celebration.
“The vision that I foresee for
Mountain fi ve to 10 years from
now is that the community will
be a place where young people
choose to live and raise their
families in a safe environment,
and where an older genera-
tion whose roots are here will
choose to live in their retire-
ment years.”
Mountain, population 126,
is one of the few growing com-
munities in the area, and its
population is younger.
Tim Moore has been May-
or of Mountain for six years
and has served on town council
for nearly 20 years. He points
out that this isn’t the fi rst time
Mountain has taken on a big
project. “We put on this annual
celebration every year. It’s a
large undertaking for a com-
munity this size and it’s suc-
cessful.” (The Deuce of Au-
gust typically attracts 5,000 to
6,000 people.) “And in 1948,
with $15,000 from the nursing
home in Gimli as start-up mon-
ey, there was $80,000 raised
locally to build Borg Memorial
Home. And in today’s dollars,
that’s equivalent to $1.5 mil-
lion.”
The Borg
Home has been
central to the
community since
it was built and
an integral part
of large celebra-
tions such as the
Deuce. However,
a large indoor fa-
cility is needed.
“The [Com-
munity Center]
will be capable
of hosting events
which will make
it a regional centre for sur-
rounding communities,” says
Senator Olafson. “The build-
ing will also play a critical role
in maintaining our Icelandic
history, heritage and culture.
[It] will greatly enhance our
options for events during the
Deuce of August Icelandic
Celebration weekend, and will
minimize the weather risk that
we currently face every year.”
So far the campaign has
gone well; $676,000 in fed-
eral grants has been secured.
“The federal grants do require
a dollar-for-dollar local match
[in order to be awarded],” says
Senator Olafson. “We have
also secured a $25,000 state of
North Dakota grant, and we are
currently getting close to the
$150,000 mark raised from our
local fundraising effort, which
was offi cially launched in July
of 2007.” One recent large do-
nation of $10,000 came from
the North Star Community
Credit Union of Cavalier.
“The key challenge will be
to accomplish the task of rais-
ing the additional needed funds
within the timeline require-
ments of the federal grants in
order to begin the bid-letting
and construction phase of the
project,” says Olafson. “The
total funding for the project,
whether in the form of grants,
local funds raised, or funds
which are borrowed, must be
in place before bid-letting and
construction can begin.”
All donations to the cam-
paign are tax-deductible, and
donors will be recognized in
a donor wall in the completed
Community Center.
Both Mayor Moore and
Senator Olafson believe the
Community Center will reach
far beyond Mountain, because
many people living across the
US have roots in the communi-
ty. “There is quite a following
of people who think of Moun-
tain as home,” says Moore.
For more information or to
make a donation, visit www.
mountainnd.com.

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ILLUSTRATIONS: RON JASMER
Architectural sketches above and below show what the com-
pleted Mountain Community Center will look like.