Icelandic celebration in Spanish Fork next month

SPANISH FORK — Folks of Icelandic heritage are planning a celebration in June to accompany Spanish Fork's sesquicentennial celebration.

Some of Spanish Fork's settlers hailed from Iceland.

Beginning June 23 — just days after Iceland's Independence Day — western Icelanders will share their American culture with visiting Icelanders at a barbecue that night.

The event includes presentations from historic journals and other writings during the day and a dinner that night.

The 50-person Iceland Festival Choir from Iceland is the featured entertainment.

The choir sings again June 25. Events on that day include a golf tournament and a picnic in a central Spanish Fork park. Those attending the picnic will find Western and Icelandic food, exhibits, wares and entertainment.

Spanish Fork's Icelandic monument, a lighthouse sculpture, will be re-dedicated later that day as the Icelandic Memorial Monument.

It was erected in 1938 and was recently re-landscaped and enhanced with a wall naming the 410 known Icelanders who immigrated to Utah.

A Sunday evening devotional will cap the 2005 Icelandic Days celebration. Visiting Icelanders include the Iceland Festival Choir and 30 Icelanders on a tour sponsored by the Icelandic National League.