Iceland Days in Utah a Stunning Success

By David A. Ashby 

The 111th annual Iceland Days in Utah was held on June 20, 21, and 22, 2008 in Spanish Fork, Utah.  The events were a stunning success! 

On Friday evening, June 20, the Icelandic Association held workshops, chaired and introduced by Steven Williams. Thelma Marinosdottir-Moreland opened the workshops with a light-hearted general session, telling the attendees how to stay on the good side of Icelanders when visiting in Iceland.  

Another session included Lin Floyd, an educator, librarian, and family history specialist from St. George, Utah, revealing how to write an ancestral history. Lin recently wrote a history of her ancestors, Vilborg Jóhanna Þórðardóttir (born 5 February 1831 at Hjaleigusandar, Storidalur undir Eyjafjollum, Rangarvalla) and her second husband, Sigurður Árnason (born 28 November 1842 in Vestmannaeyjar). 

Another workshop session, by Jack Tobiasson and his granddaughter Tanner Tobiasson, taught Icelandic folk songs, while yet another was a slide-show presentation by  Rick Mathews and Tyler Shepherd of their tour to Iceland in 2007.  

During the final workshop session, Thelma Marinosdotter-Moreland taught how to make Icelandic pönnukökur. Attendees cooked their own pancake! This workshop was a repeat from last year, and was offered again because of its extreme popularity at that time. 

The traditional Iceland Days Family Fair was Saturday, June 21st in the Spanish Fork City Park at Center and Main streets from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The fair featured displays, artifacts, memorabilia, family history, entertainment, and food. 

Events included a Barnabær (Children‘s Village), provided by the John K Johnson family, where children of all ages participated in a fun-filled variety of activities.  Why, there was also Barnakór, singing songs in Icelandic; a medley by Icelandic descendant and songwriter-singer Kathryn Warner; the presentation  of honorees Kathleen Reilly from Payson, Utah and Karen and Ed Anderson of Spanish Fork; a bus tour of historic Icelandic sites in Spanish Fork; Icelandic folksongs by Tanner and Jack Tobiasson; a report of the status of the Icelandic Association of Utah by David Ashby; an Icelandic folk song by the Steven Williams family; a presentation on Icelandic sheep by Charline Cummins; Icelandic poetry by Vell and Jeanne Runolfson; an Icelandic tale by storyteller Cherie Davis from the Timpanogos Storytelling Guild in Orem, Utah; Icelandic folk songs by Darline Ivie and Lanae Baxter; and excerpts from Dagbjört Dagbjartsdóttir‘s diary, read by David Ashby. 

The Family Fair had a distinct Icelandic flavor with the food, which included pönnukökurs, kleinur, and pylsur, the latter imported from Iceland, served with Icelandic mustard and fried onions, which were also from Iceland. A lunch with lamb, potatoes, red cabbage, a roll, and green salad was also on the menu. 

An election was held for new officers of the Icelandic Association of Utah. Devon Koyle was elected as president and Tyler Shepherd as vice-president.  They will serve for the next two years.   

Iceland Days in Spanish Fork concluded with a religious meeting (fireside chat) on Sunday evening, with featured speaker Dr. Jack R. Christianson, an administrator at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah and the former director of the Orem Institute of Religion. Jack is a descendant of Eggert Kristjánsson, born 1 September 1869 at Modruvallaklaustur, Eyjafjardar, and Sesselja Jónsdóttir, born 26 February 1868 in Kross, Rangarvalla. 

Jack told about his great-great-grandfather, Eggert, and his struggles as a young man.  Eggert’s father died when Eggert was only six years old. After the death of his father, Eggert‘s mother, Anna Sigridur Gudmundsdottir, took all of her children except the two oldest, Johannes and Arngimur, to Canada, where they settled in “New Iceland” north of Winnipeg. 

Anna was a midwife and was helping with the birth of a baby when the house caught on fire. She went for help, became lost in a late March blizzard, and was found frozen to death on Lake Winnipeg the next day. 

Eggert met a Presbyterian minister, who befriended him and took him to his home in the Dakota Territory. The minister taught Eggert to read and write, and sent him to school. At the age of fifteen, Eggert learned of the Icelandic settlement in Spanish Fork, Utah. Wanting to be with other Icelanders, he walked to Utah, arriving in 1885.  

Jack taught that we should know and care about our heritage, care about our roots, read the histories of ancestors.  He also taught that we need to be true to God, have faith, love those of other faiths, heal wounded hearts, and remember that God loves all his children. 

Some comments from those who attended:

• “ Enjoyed myself immensely at Icelandic Days. It was the first time many of my family reunion people had been to Icelandic days.” (Lin Floyd)
• “A high quality annual event.  We loved it!  We even got a beautiful ‘Icelandic‘ quilt.“ (Joe and Marilyn Tobiasson)
• “Thanks for a wonderful Iceland Days. Saturday had a wonderful feeling to the event.“ (Brent Haymond)
• “Icelandic Hot Dogs! A real hit!“ (Rick Mathews)
• ”The location was good—shade! Workshops were excellent. The fireside was exceptional.  The children‘s choir was great. The children's events seemed well attended. Could the balloon man stay longer? ” (Kathleen Reilly)
• ”In the shade under the trees where my grandpa used to back up a trailer for the stage had a special feeling the whole day. ” (Tyler Shepherd)
• “Iceland Days 2008 was wonderful from beginning to end!” (Kristy Robertson)

 

Grímsey island off northeast Iceland is still being shaken by a series of earthquakes which have lasted since noon on Wednesday. Last night the number of earthquakes had surpassed 1,100. The strongest quake measured 4.8 on the Richter scale.

Yesterday, the strongest earthquakes were between 3.3 and 3.5 points. According to Morgunbladid, the quakes all originate 14 to 16 kilometers east of Grímsey, which is a well-known epicenter among seismologists.

Halldór Geirsson at the physics department of the Meteorological Office said the activity is steadily slowing down, but earthquakes may still rattle the region next week. The earthquakes have not caused any damage.

A series of brisk earthquakes shook Iceland’s northernmost inhabited island of Grímsey yesterday so that objects on shelves rattled and plates inside cabinets vibrated. The largest quake was 4.8 on the Richter scale.

Local resident Konrád Gylfason told Morgunbladid that he did not believe the earthquakes had caused any damage. People were frightened, though, and during some of the strongest quakes people with children had run out of their homes. Some of the earthquakes were followed by rumbles.

Gylfason had been outside in the sea cliffs at the time of the earthquakes to catch puffins with pocket nets. He said a considerable thud had followed the largest quakes and the birds had flown out of their nests in the cliffs.

The epicenter of the earthquakes was 16 kilometers east of Grímsey. The first quakes were detected at noon and the last in the evening. Inhabitants on the mainland near Dalvík could also feel the vibrations.

Seismologists counted more than 300 earthquakes and 21 were larger than 3.0 on the Richter scale. According to Halldór Geirsson at the physics department of the Meteorological Office, the epicenter is in an area where earthquakes originate frequently.