homesteads south of Fishing
Lake and the Quill Lakes, an
area of about 2,000 square
kilometers. By 1911, over
1,600 Icelanders lived in the
region, bringing with them a
'dedication to the arts, to
literacy, to education and to
family life.' They also took
an active part in forming and

promoting schools, post
offices, businesses and
churches.
   The settlers never fully
lost their Icelandic
identity, but because they
had suffered many hardships
and were determined to become
Canadian, much of their
culture, including their

language, faded. That began
to change in 1981 when the
Vatnabyggd Icelandic Club was
formed to revive some of the
old Icelandic customs and to
generate an interest in the
community at large in the
contributions of these
Icelandic pioneers. This
exhibition focuses on those

contributions.