The Valdres Samband 2024 Annual Stevne will be held in Minneapolis. We are celebrating our 125th anniversary of the first Stevne. We have a great lineup of speakers on both days. On Saturday, we will gather at Minnehaha Falls Park to take our group photo – where the first Stevne was held in 1899.
Our meetings will take place at the Danish American Center in Minneapolis. Danish American Center located at 3030 West River Parkway, Minneapolis, MN 55406. The cost per person to attend is less than $100 per person including meals on Friday and Saturday.
Volunteers will be needed to help setup, teardown and assist the board members on both days of the event. Please contact Becky Wood to offer your help (norsjenta@gmail.com).
Schedule of Events
Friday, June 21, 2024:
8:30: Registration
8:30: Genealogy Room opens
9:00: Welcome/Memorial
9:15: Speaker: Lisa Torvik/Mary Hegge
10:30 Speaker: Robbie Lefleur
12:00: Lunch: Taste of Scandinavia
1:30: Speaker: Lars Walker
3:00: Speaker: Lorna Lanvik
5:30: Dinner: Taste of Scandinavia
Saturday, June 22, 2024:
8:30: Registration
8:30: Genealogy open
9:00: Speaker: Maren Ellingboe King
10:30: Speaker: Odd Lovoll
12:00: Lunch
1:00: Group photo, Minnehaha Falls
3:00 Speaker: Linda Heen
4:00: Samband Annual Meeting
Lodging Options
We have reserved a block of rooms at the Fairfield Inn & Suites at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport for $169 for the nights of June 20 to June 22. Book a room at our group rate
The Danish American Center also has rooms available. All of the rooms include twin beds (1, 2 or 3) and a half bath. There are shared shower rooms for guests to use. Room rates range from $63 to $110 per night and include tax. If you would like to book rooms at the Danish American Center, you can select and pay for your rooms when you register for the Stevne. All reservations will be made through the Samband. To see room descriptions and pictures, visit www.danishamericancenter.org/room-rentals.
About Our Speakers
Lorna Landvik is the bestselling author of thirteen novels, including PATTY JANE’S HOUSE OF CURL, ANGRY HOUSEWIVES EATING BON BONS, and her most recent, LAST CIRCLE OF LOVE. Also an actor, comedian and public speaker, Landvik has performed on stages across the country. She strives to incorporate hygge in her daily life.
Odd S. Lovoll Dr. Odd Lovoll will discuss his latest book about Col Heg and the 15th WI Infantry Company F aka Valdres Company. Dr Lovoll earned his doctorate in U.S. History, specializing in immigration history, at the Universiy of Minnesota in June 1973. From 1971 and for thirty years he served on the faculty of St. Olaf College. He retired from the King Olav V Chair in Scandinavian-American Studies at St. Olaf College in December 2000. Lovoll served as Adjunct Professor (Professor II) in U.S. History at the University of Oslo, Norway, for nine years, retiring in 2005. From 1980 until the spring of 2001, Dr. Lovoll served as publication editor for The Norwegian-American Historical Association. In that capacity he edited and supervised publication of thirty-two publications on Norwegian American immigration and Norwegian American history. The number constituted about one third of all book-length publications up to the present time.
He has published in both Norway and the United States. His published works include A Folk Epic: The Bygdelag
in America (1975), The Promise of America: A History of the Norwegian American People (1983, rev. ed. 1999), A
Century of Urban ife: The Norwegians in Chicago before 1930 (1988), The Promise Fulfilled: A Portrait of Norwegian
Americans Today (1998), Norwegians on the Prairie: Ethnicity and the Development of the Country Town (2006),
Norwegian Newspapers in America (2010), Across the Deep Blue Sea (2015), Two Homelands::A Historian Considers
His Life and Work (2018), addition to a large number of articles dealing with Scandinavian-American topics, In 1986 Lovoll was decorated by H.M. King Olav V with the Knight’s Cross of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit
and in 1989 he was invited to occupy a seat in the history section of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. He was inducted into the Scandinavian Hall of Fame at the 2001 Norsk Høstfest. In September 2011 he was awarded the prestigious Freedom of Expression Tribute (Fritt Ords Honnør) for his extensive publications, most specifically for Norwegian Newspapers in America.
Lars Walker is a native of Kenyon, Minnesota. He took his BA in English from Augsburg University in Minneapolis, and his Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Over his career he has been a radio announcer, an administrative assistant, and an academic librarian. He is the author of ten novels to date, several of them historical fantasies starring the real-life figure Erling Skjalgsson of Sola, a powerful Norwegian chieftain in the time of
Olaf Trygvesson and Saint Olaf.
Lars is also a professional Norwegian translator. He has participated in production script translation for a number of high-profile television and film projects, including the miniseries Atlantic Crossing, Wisting, and War Sailor, and the film Narvik. He is the translator of Viking Legacy, a study of Norse democracy by Prof. Torgrim Titlestad of the Saga Heritage Foundation in Stavanger. Lars is an active Viking reenactor, with the Viking Age Club and Society of the Sons of Norway. He is the current editor of Budstikken. He also edits the journal of the Georg Sverdrup Society.
Maren Ellingboe King is the author of Midwest Fresh,a cookbook that was on the Epicurious best cookbooks of 2022. She was inspired by her grandmothers and great grandmothers recipe cards. She is a recipe developer, food stylist. Some of her clients are Food Network, Target, and Macy’s. She formally worked as an editor for Food and Wine magazine and Sunset magazine.
Robbie LeFleur is a weaver and editor of the Norwegian Textile Letter. Her topic will be Frida Hansen, a well-known Norwegian textile artist.
Lisa Torvik and Mary Hegge. They will discuss and perform traditional Valdres folk music. Mary is a langeleik player. Lisa has lived in Valdres and speaks Valdres dialect.