The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.2003, Qupperneq 6

48
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 58 #2
Editorial
By Bernice Andersen
Greetings from the Stephan G.
Stephansson Icelandic Society of
Markerville!
October 3rd marked 150 years since
the birth of Stephan G. Stephansson. In
recognition of this, a celebration took place
- in conjunction with our annual June 17
Icelandic picnic. Stephansson House
Provincial Historic Site near Markerville,
was a fitting place to honour the famous
poet of the Rocky Mountains. The old
fashioned picnic proceeded as usual, but
this year, in the shadow of the restored
homestead with races, games, peanut
scramble and tug-of-war followed by ice
cream for all. The trophy for the most
points for participation in the races went to
the Calgary Icelandic club, again this year.
Calgary also took home the tug-of-war
trophy which was in Markerville’s keeping
last year. The program which is most often
held in Fensala hall, as it can rain on
Icelandic picnic day , was on the front lawn
of the Stephansson house on a sunny after-
noon.. The formal program was organized
by Olga Fowler, site Supervisor of
Stephansson House and the 3 Alberta
Icelandic clubs. It consisted of speeches: by
the Stephansson family, government histo-
ry of the site and others, music: by the Saga
Singers of Edmonton and a Stephansson
poem set to music and the highlight, of
course was poetry: Stephansson’s poetry
was recited beautifully in both Icelandic
and English. The new Fjallkona, Connie
Clark, from the Edmonton Icelandic
Society was crowned by Marie Sveinson of
Markerville. Next year a woman from the
Calgary membership will be chosen by
them. Did I mention rain? It was in short
supply this hot and dry summer, however
it did manage to rain for a short time dur-
ing the pot-luck supper held on the
Historic Markerville Creamery lawn. That
evening the play “The Quilt of Many
Cultures” was presented. This play was
written, produced and performed locally.
It is a Canadian story about immigration,
and was very well received. There are
touching accounts of hardships and joys
lived by our settlers. One story is of an 8
year old girl sent alone from Iceland to
Canada, with a note pinned on her coat
asking to please help her get to Winnipeg.
The descendants of that little girl take part
in the play and add their musical talent as
well. This play was performed twice more
this summer with larger audience’s each
time. In November we will perform the
play in a much larger venue in our nearest
city, Red Deer.
The play “The Quilt of Many
Cultures”, co-written by our current
President Bill Birse, was selected for the
2003 Museums Alberta Public Programs
Award. It may come to a venue near you.
Try to take it in, you will be reminded of
how Canada, our great country, was estab-
lished.
Our society has a tradition to follow.
We were the guiding community force
behind the Stephansson House restoration
completed in 1982. The Creamery was
restored and opened as a museum in 1986 .
Unlike the Stephansson House, which is
operated by the provincial government,
our club operates the Creamery Museum.
This year we have taken on a third huge
project, to restore Fensala Hall which was
recently designated a Provincial Historic
Resource. The Icelandic Ladies Aid
“Vonin” meaning hope (formed in 1891)
recognized the need for a social centre and
the men pitched in. Fensala was opened in
1903. Our hall is the oldest continuously
used hall in Alberta. Fensala will be
restored to the same period as the
Stephansson House and Creamery(1930’s).
Project start date was just after June 17 so
we would have an alternate location for the
special 150th anniversary celebration and
the annual picnic (in case of rain). The local