News on Osland 2011 project

 

News 2011

August 17th.
An event report and lots of beutiful pictures have now been added to the site HERE
We are working on a 30min. DVD video from the reunion and the parade. A short sample will be put on the report page shortly. Those that might be interested in having a copy of the DVD should contact Louise when it becomes available.

August 9th.
The reuninon was a success - as planned on the 31st. of July. 158 guests attended the event in perfect weather at Osland. Louise is preparing a short report which will be add to the "News > Event Report" page.
We are also preparing lots of pictures and possibly a short video.

July 24th.
This will be the last bit of news before the reunion since Loise and the webmaster are now in Gimli.
Statistics show a record view of this website, over 100 page-views yesterday with nearly 700 hits.
Weather forecast for the coming week is good, temp. 15-25°C (60-80°F) scattered thunderstorms but mainly sunny.
We will post some pictures from the event here under " News > Event report ".
SEEY'ALL !

July 19th.
The total number of attendees is now exceeding 150.
The rivalry between Jon's family and Bjarni's family is even, stands at 60 each.

Einar has finished the Family tree book which will now be printed and will be for sale at the family reunion. The genealogy covers the descendants of Vigdis Isleifsdottir (mother of Vigfus Bjarnason).

The Icelanders from Einar's family are all packed and ready to go, "harðfiskur" has been specially prepared by a family in Flateyri (in westfjords Iceland) which have a small fish processing business that produce "harðfiskur" in the old tradition. You can see how it's done HERE.

July 14th.
T-shirts are now ready, 4 different blue-color shades for each generation of the Vigfusson family.
In only 2 weeks this is how YOUR tshirt will look:

July 4th.
We are all very excited to report that we have 145 people registered for the reunion this month.

Here is a message from Louise:

I have just returned from Osland and the "OS" -water- is higher than ever but the reunion will go on rain or shine. The dike is holding. We are having a sibling rivalry between Jon's family and Bjarni's family to see who will have the highest number attending. It is a very close count right now. Make a phone call and try and get someone else to come.
If you have not ordered your tshirt or hat you have one more day to let me know. The one and only order is going in on Wednesday. They are being color coded for the generation. We have members of Generations 3, 4, 5 and 6 attending.
If anyone would like to be a tour guide, host a meal or coffee, or just have a visit with those coming from Iceland let me know. They arrive July 24. Karl's family will leave on August first to travel to Minneapolis to fly home. Valborg's family will be here until the 7th. They have their own transportation and accommodations.

Things that will be provided:
tent, portapottie, paper products, (plates, napkins, cutlery, cups) meat (hamburgers, hotdogs, smokies etc), buns, condiments, potatoe salad, coleslaw, coffee, tea, iced tea, float for the parade on Monday.

Things to bring:
daintie, dessert, salad or snack food cooler, ice, drinks (for yourself and children), BYOB, lawn chair, bug spray, sunscreen, souvenirs for Icelanders, something for doorprize (optional), money for tshirts and caps, donation for the Riverton Cemetary graves and marker for Gudrun at Osland. Small Canadian flags for the parade (flags from Iceland will be brought from Iceland), candy to hand out at the parade.

--- End of message ---

June 17th.
We are now celebrating 200th anniversary of Jón Sigurðsson on our Independance day here in Reykjavik.
We are all looking forward to the Osland family reunion, every day Louise is adding people to the list of attendees which now counts 92 and some 30 more are expected.. Preparations are well under way for the event, which is very exciting.

April 24th.
More accommodation for visitors is now booked and available, check: Contacts > Lodging info.

April 12th.
Updated program for the event on the menu: Information > The event.
More attendees have been added and we know that many are plannig to participate, but have not yet registered. Please register with Louise, for planning purposes it is important to know how many will be attending.

Jan.20th.
Family members are now starting to plan their trip to Winnipeg for the Osland reunion and Islendingadagurinn. Einar's family is now booking their flight and making arrangements for lodging.
The list of attendies is being updated at the same time.

A lot of old family pictures have been added to the Osland History page and also the Relations> Visits page has been updated.

News 2010

Jan. 15th.
Now we have started booking attendees for the reunion in 2011, which will soon be updated on the booking page. The good news for travel is that Iceland Express Airlines will as of this summer fly direct flights to Winnipeg from Keflavik and the return ticket price is US$ 600.- We have added their weblink on the link page. On the news today they say that already 60% of seats have been booked this summer.
This means that those who will attend in 2011 will have to book early this fall to get low fare tickets.

Also we now heve assigned our new travel assistant Eyrún Olsen, and the "Contact > Travel info" page has been updated accordingly. We welcome Eyrún and Hjörtur to the team.

Jan. 13th.
Statistics for the Osland website are now monitored and it shows that the last couple of days "pages viewed" exceeded 100. Visitors per day average 10 this month and Google search has been looking for the name "Runa Bjarnason" more than anyting else. IP numbers accessing the site are 40% Canadian and 60% Icelandic. - only 0.7% US, interesting indeed.

How it all began

During a family meeting at Perlan in Reykjavik June 2009 Louise and her sister Kerrine announced that they were planning a family reunion at Osland in 2011. Many relatives expressed their interest in the event and the idea developed during the following months.

In October, Louise teamd up with Valborg and Stefán in Iceland to start working on a website for the Osland reunion. It was clear from the very start that a website would be the only means of communicating with all the relatives and providing support for those that would participate.

In late October 2009 the first version of the website was developed and contact was made with those that could provide assistance, information and pictures for the website.
A logo was drafted and a typical picture, the Hecla sign, was put on the frontpage. A lot of work is ahead of us before the site will be fully functional.

 

News 2009

Dec.23rd.
Season greetings to all family members, next year will be exciting for the project, and we look forward to working with relatives in Iceland, Canada and USA. Here is a beutiful December picture from Gimli and Lake Winnipeg with fishing huts. (Click for larger picture)

Nov. 28th.
New front page design for high-resolution (widescreen) monitors. Einars story is now complete (About Us > Relations > Einar's ) and the Icelandic ( long ) version more detailed about his family search and how all the family relations began. Old picture (1899 ) of Sigridur Vigfus' wife and child. Scanned from b/w glass film and after some touch-up it looks elegant. ( Osland History )
Nov. 20th.
Thanks to relatives that we have been in contact with, we have now added a lot of information to Osland History, Relations and Links. An area map has been inserted to the (Information >) Location Osland and Gimli.
Nov. 10th.
Update of both (About Us >) Osland History and Relations. We have now received oId pictures and interesting facts from family members. Also continued work on correcting and updating the Family trees.
Nov. 1st.
The Domain name www.osland2011.com registered. We are now waiting for information to update all the menu items, old pictures and the story about the early settlement of Icelanders in Canada. Also new information about the families that now live at Osland.

Let us know if you are coming to Osland !

It is important to know if you are planning to participate in the event, so please sit down in front of your computer NOW and let us know. Thanks.

Please send news and corrections to the following addresses:

Project Organizer in Canada: Louise Tower:
Click here to send her e-mail >   Louise Tower

Project Organizer in Iceland: Valborg:
Click here to send her e-mail >  Valborg

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