“This is a surreal experience,” Luzniak said. “And this is all for my grandparents, who I really wish could be here.”

In addition to Miss Norway, Grace Reinertsen, 24, from Staten Island, N.Y., received the Miss Heritage of Greater New York 2024 award — and was the recipient of a Tuscarora Inn and Conference Center weekend trip, a wooden plaque, and a Norway sweater.

“This feels incredible,” Reinertsen gushed. “I’m so very happy to be representing my culture, representing the pride I have for my culture, and making my family proud.” 

Arlene Rutuelo, chair of the Miss Norway of Greater New York Committee and co-chair of the Norwegian Day Parade Committee, pointed out that the contest is extremely important to the Norwegian-American community.

“We are trying to train the younger generations with Scandinavian heritage to cultivate a knowledge of it — to look at their grandparents — to look at the beauty of their culture,” Rutuelo said, adding that it’s important to know where your family comes from and what it is that they did and do.

Rutuelo also explained that what is looked for in contestants (who typically range in age from 17 to 26) is not simply beauty but the whole person — in addition to aspects of their education, what they know about the culture, what their future plans are, and the like. 

In the first round of the contest, each contestant had three minutes to explain a bit about themselves, their background, and why they would be the right fit. 

For the second round, the judges had an opportunity to ask the ladies various questions in front of the audience to get a clearer picture of who they were and what they were about.

As George Jensen, chairman of the board at NCHHC, pointed out, “While there are fewer Norwegians in the neighborhood these days, we are going to try and keep this tradition up as long as we can. And as long as we get contestants, we’ll have the contest.”

The Norwegian-American 17th of May Committee was formed in Bay Ridge in 1952 when Scandinavians were the dominant population of the neighborhood. At that time, there were between 150,000 and 200,000 Norwegians living in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. Construction of the Verazano Bridge and its ramping system on the Brooklyn side displaced thousands of families in the 1960s, many of them Scandinavian.