On June 28, the Airport International Inn will accommodate about 160 people to celebrate a 100-year presence of the Bjarne Lodge 4-086 in Williston. A social will be held at 5:30 p.m. and the banquet will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed by old-time music and dance. Tickets for the event can be purchased in advance.

People of all ages are welcome and encouraged to attend the celebration, and attendants can expect to see Sons of Norway President Ted Fossberg as well as a few other district officers. There will be a total of 20 tables for the event.

"The mission of the Sons of Norway is to preserve and promote Norwegian heritage and culture," said past president Kathy Larson. "In the recent years that mission has grown to include providing quality financial and insurance products to its members."

Bjarne Lodge 4-086 is the fourth of eight districts in the Sons of Norway, and the district includes 59 different Lodges throughout North Dakota, Alberta, Montana, and Saskatchewan. Sons of Norway started in 1895 and this was the 86th Lodge to be organized, and the Williston branch includes about 150 members.

"Our district is the only international one," said Larson. She said there have been a few similar celebrations in the past.

"I remember the 75th anniversary celebration, and there was a 25th, a 50th and also a 90th anniversary party," she said.

Originally there was a Daughters of Norway in Williston, but they eventually unified with the Sons of Norway to create one organization.

The Bjarne Lodge 4-086 sponsors many cultural activities like baking, language, woodchip and hardanger classes. Kathy and her husband, Stan Larson, also teach Norwegian folk dancing. In the past, the Lodge has sponsored classes in lefsa and kransekake, or Norwegian wedding cake.

There are also outreach programs besides these cultural skills programs.

"One of the things that our Lodge participates in is a program called Ski for Light, which is for adults who are visually impaired," said Kathy Larson.

She herself is visually impaired, and has cross country skied all over the United States and in Norway as part of this program.

The Adopt-a-School program teaches cultural activities to students like folk dancing, baking and even classes about trolls. Lodge members also collect items such as empty ink cartridges, pop tops, Campbell's soup labels, and bar codes to donate to various schools in the area.

A program called Tubfrim was originally organized in Norway to help find a cure for tuberculosis, and money from that program now goes toward children in Norway who are handicapped.

"We save cancelled postage stamps and send pounds every year to Norway," said Kathy Larson. "We have been involved with this program for many years."

"For every pound of stamps that we collect, the Lodge gets their name in a hat and SAS Airlines donates a free trip to Norway," Stan Larson said. "One name is drawn out of the thousands of pounds that are saved."

Stan and Kathy have been members of the Lodge for 25 years, and joined in 1983 because of the travel opportunities available through the Sons of Norway.

"We were planning to go to Norway and we could get cheaper airline tickets, so that is why we joined, and we have been involved ever since," said Kathy.

Since then, they have made use of those travel opportunities. Kathy has been to Norway six times and Stan has been there five.

"We have lots of family there, from all over," she said. "We have visited the central and southern part of the country, and east and west to visit family."

The only area they haven't been to is the far north section of the country.

"Kathy was selected to represent the United States in the Ski for Light program which started in Norway with a visually impaired skier there with a sighted guide," Stan Larson said. "Every year Ski for Light selects one male and one female from the U.S. to represent the United States over there, and Kathy was selected one year to go over and ski there. So it was a week of skiing and then a week of sightseeing."

Kathy added that they also visited as part of a singing group called Dakota Dimensions.

As far as Sons of Norway members in the Williston area, Kathy Larson estimates that the average age of members is 65 to 70.

"We would be glad to get younger members, but it can be hard to fit it into their schedule," said Stan Larson. "We have taken out an insurance policy on some of our grandkids and they become a automatic members of Sons of Norway that way."

Kathy explained that a Heritage member is 15 and under and they can become a Heritage member at any age up to 15, and they get a Sons of Norway Viking for Kids magazine, and then they can eventually join as they get older.

"Members get a monthly magazine called The Viking which comes out of the head office in Minneapolis (where Sons of Norway originated) with recipes, stories, genealogies and pictures from every district," said Kathy Larson. "Members also have the right to attend any Lodge meeting anywhere in the United States or Norway."

Regular meetings are held monthly, September through May. Original membership requirements asked that members be male, between the ages of 20 and 50, an upstanding citizen of good moral quality, and possess the ability to care for and provide for a family. However, these rules have since been lifted and now there are no set rules for joining the organization.

To order tickets in advance for the banquet, send a request before June 23 to:

Bjarne Lodge 4-086

Sons of Norway

P.O. Box 206

Williston, ND

58801