Monday, September 06, 2010

September 2010

Farsælda Frón Icelandic Association of Chicago Volume No. 12 Issue No.2 September 2010

From the President’s Desk

Back to the Future

It’s been a good summer even though it’s been hotter and more humid than I
remember for the 13 years we’ve lived in Chicago. We’ve been outside as much
as possible playing golf and going to the beach. The summer isn’t over and I
refuse to say so even after Labor Day. I know the pool and the beach will close
but the weather in Chicago can be like the best Icelandic summer day until late
October, so go out and enjoy it.

Looking back we had a great 17th of June celebration on the 12th of June with a
good turnout and the Icelandic Hot Dogs. We had to move the celebration to our
house as storms were lingering around Chicago and the last thing we wanted
was to be stuck by the Lake in a thunderstorm. Good times were enjoyed as well
by everyone at The 6th Greater Chicago Icelandic Open on the 1st of August. An
excellent day which you can read more about in this newsletter. I hope the 7th
Open will be even better.

The Association will run the beverage booth at the Scandinavian Day on the 12th
of September in Vasa Park. I hope most of you can make it there. It’s always
great fun to go to Vasa Park and a good place to take children and participate
in all the activities. Lena and I will be there and participate in the opening
ceremony.

The General Meeting will be held in conjunction with putting up the Icelandic
Christmas Tree at the Museum of Science and Industry on the 24th of October.
We’ll decorate the tree at 1 PM but we’re still looking for a venue near the
museum for the meeting. General Meetings are OPEN to everyone. I hope
many of you can show up - we’ll let you know the details by email soon.

So that’s my look back and into the future. I hope the past was good and the
future will be even better for you.

Einar Steinsson
President


From the Editor:

I hope that everyone has enjoyed their summer and is looking forward to
their kids´ new school year, wearing long sleeves again soon or at least
the new fall programming on TV.


Take a look at the Snorri Sturluson fellowship, a great opportunity.

Hope to see you at Vasa Park and the Christmas Tree decorating at the museum!


Best wishes,

Siggy

The 6th Greater Chicago Icelandic Open

We had a great time August 1st and the weather was superb, no storms like last year. The team who took home the trophy and the medals for 1st place were Ólafur Ólafsson and Tom Hoover. We had four teams with even score for the 2nd and 3rd place and had a playoff on the putting green. After a most exciting putting competition, Lena Hallgrímsdóttir and Einar Steinsson, took home the silver and Michael Gallagher and Paul Sorensen the bronze. Ólafur also won the prizes for the Closest to the Pin and the Longest Putt. Lena won the Longest Drive for women and Gunnar Thors won the Longest Drive for men.

I would like to thank everyone for playing and hopefully I’ll see all of you next year.


Einar

1st place:

Ólafur Ólafsson and Tom Hoover


2nd place:

Einar Steinsson and Lena Hallgrímsdóttir


3rd place:

Michael Gallagher and Paul Sorensen




News From Vasa Park


The 31st Annual Scandinavian Day Festival is Sunday, September 12, 2010 - 9:00AM to 5:00PM

The church service begins the day at 10:00 AM. Joni Shaw will be the organist for that service. The opening ceremonies begin about 11:00 AM. Einar and Lena will carry the Icelandic flag in the procession and the national anthem of each of the 5 countries will be sung. We will once again have a booth selling pop and water. If you haven't already volunteered to help PLEASE contact Joni Shaw (ammajoni@msn.com) to set up a time to sell our wares. The proceeds benefit our scholarship fund, which is growing thanks to this event. There is no planning or hard work involved here, but a committment of time and it is just fun to be together. There will be many traditional Scandinavian food booths and a large variety of vendors . The emphasis for this year is Nordic authors and who has more famous authors than Iceland? There will be entertainment all afternoon including Ole and Sven with their humorous music, many ethnic musical groups and dancers, pony rides and Viking games. Once again, there are many activities for the children to enjoy and, new this year, historical events for our learning pleasure. Admission: Adults $10.00- Children 12 and under Free - FREE PARKING
For free entry, wear full traditional Scandinavian costume


Midsommar...
celebration was June 19th. It is a smaller, more intimate event than Scandinavian Day. Weatherwise it was a perfect day! Joni and Larry manned the beverage booth and added about $100.00 to the scholarship fund. The children especially had a good time with crafts, games and pony rides. Before the picnic Joni taught one of the kids how to do Icelandic Krila and that child then taught this fingerknitting craft to others during the afternoon session. Word was that it was very successful. Dark of the Moon Contra-Band performed and there was a retro dance party late afternoon until dark - the kids never stopped dancing. It was a delightful day in all respects - tho Icelanders "don't do Midsommar" - it was just fun being in a Nordic mode.

Directions:
Route 31, South Elgin, Illinois - along the beautiful Fox River
7 miles south of I-90 Northwest Tollway or 5 miles North of Il. Rt. 64 North Ave.

HANDS-ON HISTORY AT VASA PARK!

A live-action timeline, honoring and illustrating the long history of Scandinavian immigration to America, will again be a featured exhibit of this year's Scandinavian Day festival.

Well-informed and entertaining historical 8e-enactors will explain and demonstrate the clothing, tools, weapons, and day-to-day life of Leif Ericsson's Newfoundland explorers, the 17th century colony of New Sweden, and 19th century Scandinavian immigrants.

Specially featured, and new this year, will be an exciting group of Civil War enactors from Wisconsin who portray the famous 15th Wisconsin "Scandinavian" Regiment. This Union regiment, composed mainly of recent immigrants from Norway, Sweden and Denmark , won personal praise from Abraham Lincoln for skill, courage, loyalty. sacrifice and service to their adopted nation. As during the Civil War, the men will demonstrate their period manual of arms and musket firing drill-to commands in both English and Norwegian!


FlagFlagFlagFlagFlag


Come Celebrate the Culture, Heritage & Traditionsof Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden at the


31st Annual Scandinavian Day Festival


“Celebrating Nordic Authors & The Tales of Scandinavia”


SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2010


9 AM to 5 PM – RAIN OR SHINE


PRESENTED BY Scandinavian Day Festival Committee


VASA PARK, Route 31 along the Fox River, South Elgin, IL


7 miles South of 1-90 Northwest Tollway & 5 Miles North of IL Rt. 64 North Ave


Adults $10 – Children 12 & Under Free - FREE PARKING


FOR FREE ENTRY, wear full Traditional Scandinavian Costume



Traditional Scandinavian foods, crafts, games, gifts and entertainment, including the Sun City Concert Band, Ole & Sven with their humorous music from Madison, WI, Normennenes Singing Society and Leikarringen Heimhug Folk Dancers, FREE Pony Rides for the children, Living History Display, Sweden’s Telge Glima “Vikings” presenting Old Nordic Games & more. Church Service starts at 10 A.M.


Hotline 847-695-6720 * E-mail: vasaparkil@yahoo.com

Website: www.vasaparkil.com or www.scandinaviandayil.com



The Snorri Sturluson Icelandic Fellowships for 2011

The fellowship is granted to writers, translators and scholars outside Iceland
in the field of humanities and meant to enable them to stay in Iceland for at least
three months in order to improve their knowledge of the Icelandic language,
culture and society, as is stated in the attachment.

Please see the attached PDF for further information.
Applications for the fellowship should be sent no later than 31 October 2010.



Farsælda Frón - The Icelandic Association of Chicago Newsletter. Editor: Siggy Jonsson (Sigríður Ósk Sigurdarðóttir), E-mail: siggyosk@gmail.com & Website: www.IcelandChicago.org. Correspondence: The Icelandic Association of Chicago, Einar Steinsson President.