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Minner fra Norge
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What is Project 2/60?
On November 5, 1966, a group of men and women met in downtown Salt Lake City to form the first Sons of Norway lodge in the intermountain west. They came from all walks of life--plumbers, business owners, electricians, warehouse workers--but they all shared a deep appreciation for the country that tugged at their hearts as well as the country they had adopted. Among them were the sons and daughters of immigrants who had come to Utah long before. Together, they yearned to preserve the memories and traditions they had been gifted with new friends in their adopted land.
Project 2/60 honors their efforts by looking back at the past 60 years of Sons of Norway's presence in Utah, celebrating their achievements large and small, and by looking forward to what the next 60 years could bring. Throughout 2026 and beyond, we plan to highlight the men and women who helped preserve our Norwegian heritage and build on the foundation they laid.
Project 2/60: The First 60 Years (January 24, 2026)
Project 2/60: The Next 60 Years (March 21, 2026)
Things were fairly quiet in Salt Lake City on November 5, 1966. Kearns High School had just moved to their new building; three new sections of freeway had opened: One on I-15 in Davis County, another on I-15 from 3300 South to 5300 South, and one on I-80 at the mouth of Parley’s Canyon. Something was going on in the state legislature and someone was hurt in a car crash. The pheasant season was about to start. The Utes would be playing Arizona State and BYU would be playing West Texas that night.
Perusing the ads, you could pick up a bag of steer manure for 79 cents from Hank the Petunia King; a sleek knit dress for $6.99; a men’s suit for $47; a 19-inch black and white TV for an eye-popping $129 (though it did come with a “Beautiful Matching Stand”), or a brand-new car for a cool $2,600 bucks.
But if you were a Norwegian immigrant or the descendant of Norwegian immigrants, the big news was really happening that night at the Rodeway Inn on 600 South.
There, dozens of members of the local Norwegian community gathered, with officers from District 6, to form the first Sons of Norway lodge in the Intermountain West. So eager were Utah Norwegians for the new lodge that 44 had signed up days before the event began. By the end of the evening, another 28 had become members, for a total of 72 on the day it was founded. We call this group the “Charter Members” of the lodge.
It was a watershed moment as the world’s oldest and largest organization dedicated to preserving Norwegian culture in America had finally come to Utah.
Among this group were 42 men and 30 women. The median age was 56. 31 had been born in Norway and one had been born in Sweden. The oldest, Haakon Aamodt, was 83. The youngest, Grant Birkeland, was 26 (the next youngest was Dennis Engh, at 27). The first to pay dues and officially join the new lodge was Judith Martinsen, a native of Oslo. The last charter member to pass away was Kirsten Aase, who died just last June.
Among these charter members were business owners, tradesmen, housewives, and salesmen. They came from many walks of life, but they shared a love of Norway and its culture–and now they could share it with the support of an international organization.
Among these charter members were business owners, tradesmen, housewives, and salesmen. They came from many walks of life, but they shared a love of Norway and its culture–and now they could share it with the support of an international organization.
Among these charter members were business owners, tradesmen, housewives, and salesmen. They came from many walks of life, but they shared a love of Norway and its culture–and now they could share it with the support of an international organization.
Among these charter members were business owners, tradesmen, housewives, and salesmen. They came from many walks of life, but they shared a love of Norway and its culture–and now they could share it with the support of an international organization.
They appointed officers, including Victor Johansen as president; LeRoy Strand as vice-president; Lorentze Jardine as secretary; Morris Bjerkness as financial secretary; Judith Martinsen as treasurer; and Edel Reinertsen as social director.
They named their lodge after Leif Erikson, appropriately enough. Like Erikson, many of them were explorers in a way, having immigrated to the same strange land he had discovered more than a millennium earlier.
They published a newsletter and titled it The Explorer. It would be the primary record of their activities for the next 31 years.
THE 1960s: Sound of Music, Jackie Robinson, Jackie and President Kennedy, the Beatles, Brigitte Bardot, the Supremes, downtown Salt Lake City, Martin Luther King, Jr., Audrey Hepburn, VW bus, Woodstock, the Beach Boys, Psycho, family road trip.
Let’s take a journey through the archives of the Sons of Norway, starting in the 1960s…
Let’s take a journey through the archives of the Sons of Norway, starting in the 1960s…
One of the first accomplishments of the lodge was to obtain official government recognition of October 9 as Leif Erikson Day in Utah. Governor Calvin L. Rampton was there for the first signing, followed by governors Matheson and Bangerter in later years. Pictured from L to R: _____, Aslaug Evjen, Alvhild Hammer, Governor Rampton, _____.
The lodge soon took over formal responsibility for the Norway Garden and began coordinating with other Norwegian groups to commemorate the 17th of May.
They began saving their canceled stamps to send to Norway, participating–like all Sons of Norway lodges at the time–in the Tubfrim initiative to help tuberculosis patients in Norway. This participation ended in 2022, but we recently received a Christmas card from long-time members Greg and Karen Applonie that they are still sending their canceled stamps to Norway!
They held the first of many, many lutefisk dinners, though lutefisk eventually gave way to kjøttkaker, lapskaus, and other Norwegian favorites–most likely because of the difficulty of finding a reliable supply in Utah.
A year later, they celebrated the first anniversary of the lodge’s founding. Attendance at lodge events was high in these early years, regularly drawing 100 or more to monthly events and swelling to the hundreds at the 17th of May and Christmas.
THE 1970s: Catalog of hip styles, Star Wars, Trans Am, President Nixon, Salt Palace, Gremlin, Grease, Hollywood Blvd, vinyl records, ladies talking.
The 1970s would be a productive decade for the lodge, beginning with the formation of the Blåveis Ladies Auxiliary in 1970, when it was given $25.00 from the Leif Erikson Lodge. This small donation would come back to the lodge many times, with the Blåveis auxiliary raising thousands of dollars over the years for lodge activities. For the Bauta Stone at the Norway Garden alone, the Blåveis club would raise $500 in 1971/1972. Factoring in inflation, that equates to more than $3,500 in today’s money.
Speaking of the Bauta Stone: Its unveiling would mark the physical center of the Norwegian community in Utah for decades to come. The stone was designed by Randi Bjorge and depicts iconic scenes from Norway, including: The midnight sun; snow crystals; reindeer on the mountains; a border of rosemaling; a mother and child, representing home life, surrounded by pine and birch trees; a farmer sowing the earth; the birds of the sea; a sailor at the wheel of a ship; the North Star; a border of fish with a nearby ocean wave; the inscription “Ja vi elsker dette landet.” The opposite side is covered by a dragon, whose body contains the phrase: “Erected by Norwegians in Utah in memory of the homeland and in prayer of peace.”
The lodge also decorated a car for the 1975 Days of ‘47 Parade–a feat that wouldn’t be matched for another 50 years–and for the same reason: to celebrate 150 and 200 years, respectively, of organized immigration from Norway to the United States.
To celebrate the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976, Sons of Norway decided to add a feature to the Norway Garden that would include the names of family members written on stones and placed near the fjord in the waterfall. These stones can still be found at the garden, though the names have long since faded and many of the stones have been overgrown by bushes.
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