24/03/2023
Arjeplog celebrates 50 years of car testing.
Exhibitions, art installations and lectures have been lined up during the spring and winter.
Yesterday, around 50 people, who in one way or another were connected to the car test business, gathered in Arjeplog for celebrations.
The party started in The Silver Museum with a series of fact-packed speeches.
However, there was some confusion as to which figures were correct and whether they were for Arjeplog, or the entire region. "Was it two billion SEK per year and is that figure only for Arjeplog, or?"
In any case, Arjeplog is highlighted as an unprecedented success story and nobody remembers the facts and statistics anyway.
Hotel Hornavan provided a fine three-course dinner and more speeches. Luckily some were stories, rather than just facts and figures.
One speaker had previously emphasized the importance of Arjeplog needing to get better at marketing.
"In the south of Sweden, they don't know anything about the car test business, or even of Lapland," she said.
When former municipal mayor Britta Flinkfeldt announced, before the dinner that there was a ban on photography, it felt symbolic of a branch which for various reasons is considered closed to the public?
Honorary citizens, governors, municipal councilors and other dignitaries told their stories during dinner.
Klaus Bohler, BOSCH and Heinz Krusche, BMW, both honorary citizens of Arjeplog, gave their speeches in comprehensible Swedish and testified to times gone by, not least the importance of The Arjeplog Times (which we published over 20 years).
They sang praises of the people of Arjeplog and the help they received and are receiving in Arjeplog.
In the middle of the dinner, the guests were bussed to Guld-Klas Torg, the town square, where an art installation with a car test theme was shown to a largish audience. The snow drifted down and the mysterious music contributed to an excitement, which not least the younger ones liked.
Many found the installation difficult to understand. The interactive exhibition sparked many discussions and that is surely an important purpose of art.
No one brought up the interesting fact that the entire culture of Arjeplog has changed since the first testers arrived. During the 50 years that car testing has been going on, Arjeplog and its population have undergone a cultural metamorphosis of epic proportions.
When we arrived Arjeplog in 1977, almost no one dared to talk to Illona (who only spoke English then).
At pub and dance evenings at Hotel Silverhatten, it happened that locals filled with liquid courage, tried to converse with her, but rarely with good results.
Today, the situation is quite the opposite.
Today, few locals hesitate to communicate with foreigners and to help. Many have learned new languages and made friends with people from all over the world.
Arjeplog has become an open and very international municipality.
Thanks to the car testers.
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