Icelandic Festival of Manitoba

Icelandic Festival in Manitoba
Islendingadagurinn
Reenactment of a Norse battle during the Icelandic Festival in Gimli.
FrequencyAnnual
Location(s)Gimli, Manitoba
EstablishedAugust 2, 1890; 134 years ago (1890-08-02)
Websiteicelandicfestival.com

The Icelandic Festival of Manitoba (also known as Islendingadagurinn, Icelandic for 'Icelander's Day') is an annual festival of Icelandic culture, held in Gimli, Manitoba, Canada, and thought to be the oldest Icelandic festival in North America. It is held for three days during the first weekend of August, i.e., the Terry Fox Day long weekend.[1]

Having been celebrated since 1890, and held in Gimli since 1932, organizers of the festival believe it to be the second oldest continuous ethnic festival in North America.[1] (Only an Irish festival held annually in Montreal, Quebec, is a few years older.)[2] The festival is now visited by several thousand tourists each year.[3] The community of Gimli, part of the broader region of New Iceland, is home to the largest concentration of Icelanders outside of Iceland.[4][5]

  1. ^ a b "History | Icelandic Festival of Manitoba". www.icelandicfestival.com. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  2. ^ Jlittle. "History of the Icelandic festival". www.gimli.ca. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  3. ^ "Icelandic festival becoming inclusive and diverse place, say volunteers and organizers". CBC Manitoba. August 4, 2019. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  4. ^ "Icelandic festival celebrates 130 years, from modest to major summer event." CBC News. 2019 August 2. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  5. ^ "How Gimli, Manitoba, became the world's biggest Icelandic community outside Iceland". canadiangeographic.ca. Retrieved 2023-08-07.