DENBIGH – An annual wreath-laying ceremony to honor Sondre Norheim will take place on Tuesday morning at 10 a.m. at the Norway Lutheran Church in rural Denbigh, according to a Norsk Hostfest news release.

The traditional ceremonious program features the laying of the wreath on the graves of Sondre Auverson Norheim and Rannei Aamundsdatter Norheim; greetings from Rolf Haugen, former city manager of Skien, honorary ambassador for North Dakota and honorary citizen of Minot; comments from author Thor Gotaas from Norway; and musical selections from Joan Haaland Paddock and the Minot High School Change of Pace Singers. Refreshments will be served by the Friends of Norway Lutheran Church. The public is welcome to attend.

A biography provided by Norsk Hostfest states Sondre Norheim was born in Morgedal in Telemark county, Norway, on June 10, 1825. He immigrated to the United States in 1884 with his wife and five of their six children. After a brief stay in Oslo, Minnesota, he came to what is now McHenry County and filed on a homestead near Villard Post Office.

Norheim left Norway with a dream of finding a better living in America. He was a modest man, so even his neighbors in North Dakota did not know that his name was legend in Norway.

Norheim, recognized as the Father of Modern Skiing, invented a new ski binding and introduced Telemark and Christiania turns. To take full advantage of his skis, Norheim decided they had to be firmly attached to his feet, so he took thin shoots from birch roots, soaked them in hot water, and twisted them together so they would fit around his heel. Now he could twist and turn on his skis and fly like a bird. Thus was the humble beginning of ski bindings.

Norheim died in 1897. He went to his grave a virtual unknown. Although his place of burial is recorded in Norway Lutheran Cemetery records, his grave went unmarked for many years. A granite boulder and a plaque were dedicated and placed on his grave in a memorial ceremony June 12, 1966. Norway Lutheran Cemetery is only five miles west of where he homesteaded in North Dakota.