- We are pleased with the interest and response from many of you for the 2012 Gudbrandsdalslaget Tour to Norway and the Kringen Festival. We know several people who have expressed their commitment in participating and know that number will be growing. Some have only recently learned of the trip plans through the recent Brev newsletter which was sent to lag members in late October.
- Brekke Travel and Tours has informed us about a discount that is available. If people register for the tour by December 15, 2011, (by returning the application form and a deposit of $600 to Brekke's), when they send in their final payment by check/cash by June 1, 2012, they can subtract $100.00 from the final payment.
- Brekke's has also urged us to communicate to prospective tour participants that the airlines have reduced their capacity for 2012, so if anyone wishes to travel to Norway on alternate travel dates, they should submit their application as soon as possible.
- The airline reservations will be reviewed in April, so the final determination about the trip will be made at that time. However, we would encourage you to sign up as soon as it is possible for you.
- Let us know if we can assist you with connecting with family in Gudbrandsdalen or visiting an ancestral farm(s). We can suggest when that might fit in best with our schedule or you might want to extend your stay in Norway for a few days, which is probably the best thing to do, if a visit cannot be scheduled during the Kringen Festival.
On Thursday, May 19th, I spent a morning with Dag Erik Pyrhn, Sel Kommune Ordfø, and Geir Neverdal, Sel Historielag, leaders of the 2012 Kringen Festival Committee.
They shared with me the plans of the committee which have been developed to date for the August 2012 Festival that will be the focus of the tour that is being planned for members
and friends of the Gudbrandsdalslag. It is great to announce the tour details and costs at the Tre Lag Stevne in Sioux Falls in August.
The tour plans include beginning with a visit to Trondheim, traveling down the west coast of Norway (including the "Atlantic Highway", passing through Geiranger Fjord area into Lom and Skjåk in
Gudbrandsdalen before the Kringen Festival. We will headquarter at the hotel in Vågå August 22 - 24. After the conclusion of the festival we will work our way south through Gudbrandsdal
and conclude the tour in Oslo.
- A History Seminar on the significance of the Battle of Kringen and earlier festivals in 1912 and 1962. (I have been invited to present on the role of Pastor
Thorkveen and the involvement of our lag in 1912
- An essay contest for school schildren with significant prizes
- A guided tour through Kringen
- The Sinclair Clan annual reunion and Scottish Highland Games will be held in Otta during the Festival
- Historielags and Slekthistorielags from throughout Gudbrandsdal and our lag will have booths.
- A time capsule from 1912 will be opened.
- The Norwegian and British Royal Families have been invited to attend
- The 2012 Prillar Guri Prize Winner, awarded to a Norwegian woman who has made significant contributions to society, will be announced and earlier winners invited to be present
- A Saturday evening festival under a tent that can hold 5,000 people.
- The conclusion of the festival on Sunday will be a mass gathering and program and a worship service for Peace, led by the Bishop of Hamar and special guests. There will also be a youth soccer cometision.
- And even a whisky seminar for those interested.
The wide variety of Scottish and Norwegian cultural and heritage experiences that have been proposed will be helpful
to us as Norwegian Americans to learn about our heritage and Norway's role in the 21st century. Even though I have made several trips to
Norway, I think the 2012 trip can be the trip of a lifetime. Why not join us?
- Contributed by Jim Olson, Tour Coordinator