Dr. Arne Brekke, former associate Professor of Germanic Languages at UND and now President of Brekke Tours and Travel, spoke at the December 16 meeting of the Noon Rotary Club in Grand Forks, describing some of North Dakota’s Lincoln Bicentennial festivities for 2009. These activities, co-sponsored by the ND Horizon magazine (Andrea Winkjer Collin, editor) and the UND Nordic Initiative (Bruce Gjovik, chair), include an exclusive tour to Norway, June 20-30, 2009 that is organized by Brekke Tours.

Dr. Brekke described an event, in the year 1914, when the people of North Dakota raised money and sent a delegation to Norway with Governor Louis Hanna as leader. The purpose was to present a bust of Abraham Lincoln to mark the centennial celebration of Norway's Constitution in 1814 and to commemorate the Homestead Act of 1862. President Lincoln signed the Act, enabling thousands of immigrants to acquire free land in Dakota Territory.

Gov. Hanna's party consisted of himself and 18 others, including his staff, state legislators who were on the North Dakota Norwegian Centennial Commission, former Lincoln bodyguard living in Fargo Smith Stimmel, and George B. Winship, former publisher of the GF Herald, who wrote, “A parade later that afternoon of Americans of Norwegian descent drew numbers as high as 10,000 to 12,000." Estimates were that 200,000 Americans with Scandinavian blood traveled to Norway in 1914.  How many were North Dakotans is not clear.

The 2009 tour will emphasize North Dakota's Norway connections with customized visits to major sites, special tours through the fjord country, a hosted visit to the Parliament, and a reception at the American College of Norway in Sarpsborg, where UND operates an annual summer program.

For details check www.brekketours.com, www.ndhorizons.com, and www.nordicinitiative,com.