Icelandic Festival in Gimli

The Icelandic Festival or Islendingadagurinn starts today in Gimli. It is the 119th occurance of this annual festival. As part of the kick-off Viking demonstrations of prowess were shown.

The second oldest cultural event on the North American continent the Islendingadagurinn annually attracts about 50,000 visitors to the little town of Gimli. It first started off in Winnipeg in 1890 and has been held in Gimli since 1932.

Tonight they will be showing modern Islandic videos and movies on the beach. You can break the day tomorrow with a healthy pancake breakfast, starting at 8 am. Breakfast will be followed by a sand castle building contest, the mysterious game fris-nok, and by demonstrations of Viking wargames and tactics. 

Sunday there will be the be the 10 mile fun run and the Isplay paintball tournament at George Johnson School. This will be succeeded by The Sadies, Nathan, Romi Mayes and Andrew Neville as they play at the Gimli Folkfestival.

The event will culminate in the annual parade on Monday. The parade will start at 10 am and will be attended by Iceland’s foreign minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir who is expected to toast Canada.