Ohio entrepreneur launches project to unite Vík’s diverse community

Ann Irene Peters, an entrepreneur from Ohio who has lived in Iceland since 2016, has launched a project to bring together the many cultures represented in Vík. The initiative, called Raddir Víkur, or “Voices of Vík – Language, Culture & Community”, was reported by mbl.is.

About 67 per cent of Vík’s residents were born outside Iceland, Peters said. She sees the community’s cultural and linguistic diversity as one of its greatest strengths.

Peters says the project will uphold the values and memory of Harpa Elín Haraldsdóttir, who died on November 1 last year, aged 45. Harpa was director of Kötlusetur, a community institution in Vík focused on arts, culture, nature and the history of Mýrdalur. She received a cultural award from the Association of Local Authorities in South Iceland last year for her contribution to culture and community life in Mýrdalshreppur.

Peters first came to Iceland in 2010 as part of a goal to ice-climb 40 glaciers before turning 40. She was stranded in the country when the Eyjafjallajökull eruption began, and later returned. After noticing that there was no wedding-planning service for North Americans wanting to marry in Iceland’s natural settings, she began organising weddings through her company, Iceland Wedding Planner, which was established between 2010 and 2012.

She married an American at Seljalandsfoss in 2012. After living in Reykjavík and Selfoss, Peters met her Icelandic husband, Davíð Geir Jónasson, just outside Vík.