It’s bright and early on a Saturday morning and the Ship and Plough Tavern in Gimli, Manitoba, is already packed with football fans watching Iceland take on Argentina in the World Cup. Wearing Viking horns and blue jerseys, there’s no doubt who the home team is.

Gimli, a tiny town of just more than 2,000, is the heart of ‘New Iceland’ in Canada, a region that boasts the most Icelanders outside of Iceland. Located about an hour north of Winnipeg, the town was founded by Icelandic immigrants in the late 19th Century.

It’s a legacy the descendants of these first pioneers are still proud of.

“Living in this community, it’s around us all the time,” said Lorna Tergesen, who along with her son Stefan runs Tergesen’s General Store in Gimli centre. The store was founded in 1899 by Stefan’s great-grandfather, an Icelandic merchant.