The Icelandic Canadian - 01.09.1964, Blaðsíða 24

22
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Autumn 1961
for the day, laid the wreath to the
pioneers in a brief but impressive
ceremony. The party had lunch at the
Betel Old Folks Home and had an op-
portunity to chat with descendants of
the original pioneers.
The feature event commenced at
2 p.m. in Gimli Park. Warm sunshine
bathed the audience of nearly 3000
as ithe Fjallkona with her two Maids
of Plonour was escorted to the special
platform. The program opened with O
Canada, and O Guff vors lands. Presid-
ing was the chairman of the Celebra-
tion Committee, Aleck Thorarinson,
who extended the welcome of the as-
sembled gathering to the distinguished
guests. Reigning over the day’s festiv-
ities as “Fjallkona” (Lady of the
Mountains) was Mrs. Asgerffur Bessa-
son. The “Icelandic” and “Canadian”
themes received much attention in the
addresses delivered during the course
of the afternoon. Canadians have
found much of their strength in diver-
sity, said the Lieutenant.-Governor of
Manitoba in his brief but witty address
in that so many of her people had come
from various parts of the world. He
pointed out to the largely Icelandic
audience that the first settlers in Ice-
land were Irish (Mr. Willis is himself,
of Irish ancestry) and that in later
years the Icelanders raided Ireland be-
cause the women were “willing and
eager”. Speaking on behalf of the
Prime Minister of Canada, who sent
his regrets that he was not able to at-
tend in person, was the Honourable
William Benedickson. A part of his
address appears elsewhere in this num-
ber.
In the feature address of the after-
noon, Dr. Benediktsson, speaking in
Icelandic, urged his audience to do
their utmost to preserve the language
of their forefathers. However, this need
not diminish their Canadianism. Ice-
land, he said, was proud of the
emigrants who had come to' the new
land and of their achievements therein.
Manitoba’s Education Minister, Dr.
George Johnson, brought greetings
from the Manitoba Government.
Other distinguished guests who brief-
ly addressed the gathering were Gimli’s
mayor, Mrs. Violet Einarson, Rev. P.
M. Petursson, representing the Ice-
landic National League, and Grattir
[ohannson, Consul for Iceland in Win-
nipeg, Representatives of Icelandic
organizations on the platform were
introduced.
Musical contributions to the pro-
gram were given by the Gimli Chil-
dren’s Choir (directed by Mrs. Shirley
Johnson, Mrs. Gudrun Stevens, and
Mrs. Anna Stevens), and the Winnipeg
Scandinavian Male Choir (directed by
Arthur Anderson; Gunnar Erlendsson,
accompanist).
'The usual program of athletic sports
were held; but special features which
added to the distinction of the day in-
cluded a demonstration of Icelandic
“China” (wrestling), a special travel
movie on Iceland, a sale of “harfffisk-
ur” flown from Reykjavik, and a
museum display of some extremely in-
tresting mementos of early days in the
New Iceland colony.
Following the a liter noon .program
the Prime Minister was the honoured
guest at a small reception held at the
home of Eric Stefanson, M.P. At 6 p.m.
there was an informal dinner at St.
Michaels Parish Hall under the
auspices of the Icelandic Day Celebra-
tion Committee, which included the
honoured guests, the guests of the day
and the representatives of the Icelandic
organizations. Ait the dinner the Prime
Minister presented S. Aleck Thorarin-
son, the Chairman, with the Order of
tlie Falcon.