The Anniversary of Akureyri Municipality is celebrated annually on the weekend closest to the day of establishment which is the 29th of August. It´s a celebration including cultural events like exhibitions, visual art, music, science and so on.
Celebrations will take place during 30th August -1st of September 2024.
Akureyrarvaka is an annual town festival, held on the last weekend of August closest to the town’s anniversary which is August 29th. The festival is full of diverse events and experiences where guests and townspeople enjoy events together.
The festival calendar can be found on www.akureyrarvaka.is
The town of Akureyri celebrates its 161st anniversary this year and there will be various celebrations this weekend. The program includes more than 70 events taking place in town from Friday, August 25 to Sunday, August 27. The President of Iceland, Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, will honour the event with an official visit and he will take part in the event Rökkurró in the Botanical Garden that begins at 20 p.m. tonight (Friday evening).
There is also an extensive anniversary program at the Akureyri Art Museum, which celebrates its 30th anniversary. Five new exhibitions will be opened, and numerous events will take place in the museum.
Akureyrarvaka packed program includes Ghost Trail in the park Harmarkotstún, a song concert with GDRN and Magnús Jóhann in Hof, the Czech octet HLASkontraBAS in the National Gallery, a street basketball tournament in Gústi's Garden, the inauguration by the presidential couple on history poles, children's musical “Hoðri í norðri”, a guided tour among hidden people and elves in the Botanical garden, Circus-Tones with the North Iceland Symphony Orchestra, Tweed ride, a concert with Diddú and Jónas Þórir in Hamraborg in Hof, free cruises with old oak boat Hun II, history walks around the old-town and much more.
The festival reaches its climax when a big concert will be performed at the Town Square “Ráðhústorg” at 20:30 on Saturday night. Performers are: Bríet, Á móti sól, Kári Egils and orchestra and last but not least the Akureyri artist Hrefna Loga. In addition to them, the hosts Jónína Björt and Ívar Helga will have talented locals to join them on the stage.
In recent years Akureyrarvaka has stretched itself to Sunday and this time it will be possible to take a morning float at Akureyri geothermal pool with a float cap, art exhibitions will be open and guided tours of several exhibitions in the National Gallery during the day. Musicians Ásdís Arnar, Dagbjört Ingólfur and Steinunn Hailer also offer a heartwarming home concert.
These events are only a fraction of the diverse programme of Akureyrarvaka 2023, and birthday guests are advised to check out the entire programme on www.akureyrarvaka.is.
Happy birthday!
The program will be available closer to the dates of the event, until then last year’s program is available below.