Twenty-three Icelandic Roots volunteers and five family members are in Banff celebrating the Icelandic National League's Convention hosted by the Calgary Leif Eiriksson Icelandic Club. Everything has been fabulous. The views are spectacular in every direction.
THURSDAY
Our first gathering was on Thursday with an IR Team Dinner at Chuck's Steakhouse with 22 of our teammates.
So many wonderful smiles... Over the past years, we have been with each other often on Zoom. It is great, but being together in 3D is highly recommended.
They were having so much fun together ... the photographer had difficulty getting them to stop talking and look forward for a photo!
FRIDAY
Friday morning we were off! Today was busy! We had a Vendor Table set up all day, with volunteers manning this booth all day Friday and Saturday. We thank Heather for driving the many boxes to Banff from Winnipeg.
Thanks to Doug and Heather for helping me unpack the boxes and set up the table.
Our vendor table with the most breathtaking views ... Wow!
A quick photo of some of the volunteers who worked Friday's Vendor Table.
Friday was very busy. Besides the Vendor Table, we also had a formal 30-minute presentation, "Preserving the Past - Connecting the Future." Twelve different speakers covered the many topics within IR: Community Offerings, Member-Only Benefits, Genealogy, IT, Philanthropy, and much more.
According to many in the audience, it was a very memorable presentation that kept their attention and was very interesting. (Yay!)
Jody - The Public Outreach Team Leader and Snorri Liason
Julie - volunteers for IR within Public Outreach, Snorri, and Translations
Becky, the Member Outreach Team Leader and Cathy, the Iceland Team Leader and Membership Director.
Sunna - the IR President
The presentation was fast-paced with twelve people on the stage, changing spots and moving along, explaining their various roles across twenty-two slides.
Icelandic Roots sponsored the Friday Coffee time.
Friday afternoon we held an IR Seminar and packed the room with our volunteer team and others in attendance. For those who had RSVP'd, were Icelandic and in the database, each attendee was granted free access to the database for the weekend. With so many people in the room, all talking at once and exclaiming surprise at the content of the database, asking questions, and finding out how they were all related to each other ... well, all I can say is ... Now THIS is FUN!!!
We were all so engaged that we forgot to take photos! One of the past Snorri participants came into the room to take photos. I hope she caught some great shots that we can share later.
After dinner, a few of us went to get Ice Cream!
Sunna, Veronika, Doug, Heather, Lorne, and Becky went to Cow's Ice Cream
Four of the IR Writing Team had their books for sale.
Sverrir and Veronica also had seminars on "Writing Your Memoir."
We had so many visitors to our Vendor Tables and met many friends, IR Members, and cousins. We connected with some new friends, too. Hopefully, our time here in Banff will help more Icelanders learn about the IR Community.
Cathy, Becky, Sunna, and Vilhjalmur Wiium, the Consul General from Iceland to North America based in Winnipeg.
Many thanks to Vilhjalmur for supporting Icelandic Roots and sharing the good news about our work. Having leaders be engaged, attend our events, and have fun with the database is so appreciated.
Cathy and Julianna from the New Iceland Heritage Museum in Gimli.
Shaune, Sunna, Afton, and her son, Asher
Natalie and Thor
Doug and Lorne - the smiles say it all.
The IR Team are close friends and enjoy each other over Zoom these past years. However, being together is THE BEST!!!
SATURDAY
Front Row: Veronica, Sverrir, Susan, Doug, and Lorne Back Row: Alfreda, Heather, Sharron, Sunna, Judy, Alfreda, Shaune, Beth, and Rus
The IR Vendor Table on Saturday was once again a major gathering spot. Thanks to all those who came for a visit, and thanks to all the IR Volunteers for helping out, visiting with attendees, and being with us here in beautiful Banff!
We have more to share about the weekend. Stay tuned until next time!