During his lifetime, Reiten built a multi-million dollar broadcasting empire, was Minot mayor for 14 years, a North Dakota senator for 16 years, and a volunteer in several capacities, including a 35-year stint on the local hospital’s board of directors with 12 years as chairman and 25 years as a Sunday school teacher in his church.
While he has retired from his other endeavors, his passion for Høstfest only burns brighter. This is the man who was shot in the eye in a hunting accident only two weeks prior to the festival three years ago. Heavily sedated for pain and unable to see out of the injured eye, Reiten continued his commitments. “I couldn’t stand to stay home and miss it,” he says. “After all, the show must go on.”
Many volunteers
In his unpaid position as Høstfest president, Reiten marshals the efforts of more than 7,000 volunteers who greet up to 60,000 visitors that arrive in Minot – a city of only 35,000 – for five nights and four days of culture, heritage, entertainment, and fun. Norsk Høstfest will be held Oct. 5-9 this year.
“Norsk Høstfest is a celebration of our great heritage,” Reiten states. “Heritage here means those essential family values that are not taught from books but are as a lighted torch that is passed down from one generation to the next and on through the ages. Understanding the past is essential to mastering our future.”
The King of Norway has recognized Reiten with the prestigious St. Olav Medal for his work in developing Norwegian-American relations. He is also one of only 33 North Dakotans to receive the North Dakota Theodore Roosevelt Roughrider Award given to North Dakotans who have achieved national recognition in their fields of endeavor.
Generous
A visionary, Reiten is always looking to the future. He founded the Høstfest Guardian Program, formed to protect the festival’s solvency, and he heads the Høstfest-Heritage Foundation to preserve Scandinavian heritage and culture. He is as generous with his money as his time, having given a gift of $500,000 to the Foundation.
He was instrumental in the development of the Scandinavian American Hall of Fame in 1984, believing that it is one more means of “preserving the heritage,” a term he uses frequently and fondly to apply to almost any undertaking of Nordic influence. The Hall of Fame honors persons of Scandinavian descent who have made great achievements in the business world or who have contributed significantly to the betterment of mankind. Nominees are inducted at a Hall of Fame banquet during Høstfest.
Reiten is also a contributor to the Scandinavian Heritage Association (SHA) in Minot. SHA has developed the Scandinavian Heritage Park, a year-round, permanent legacy to the area’s Scandinavian settlers. The SHA Park is home to a full size replica of a Gol Stave Church, a Norwegian stabbur, a 500-year-old home moved to Minot from Norway, and other buildings and statues that reflect the culture of all five Scandinavian countries.
Sister Skien
Skien, a small town in southern Norway and Minot have established ties as Sister Cities, another arrangement where Reiten played an active role. Skien sends a delegation to every Høstfest and Norsk Høstfest Association sponsors an annual Norway tour that includes a stop in Skien.
North Dakota has been Reiten’s lifelong home. All four of his grandparents were immigrants from Norway, settling south of Valley City in southeast North Dakota. He and his wife, Joy, have been married 57 years and raised five children together.
He enjoys traveling with Joy to “every place we can find that has some historical interest, something you can learn.” Norway, though, is the only place where he returns. “Once we’ve seen it, we don’t go back. We go somewhere else. But Norway is family, you know.”
He sums up his success simply, “I took opportunity when it came. I like challenges. Failure wasn’t in my mind. I assumed I could do it and didn’t worry about it.”