Skjervøy municipality (Northern Sami: Skiervvá suohkan, Kven: Kieruan komuuni) is a municipality in Troms and Finnmark county. The municipality is located in its entirety on islands, of which the largest are Arnøya, Kågen, Uløya, Laukøya and Skjervøya. The administration center in the municipality is the town of Skjervøy, which has 2,517 inhabitants as of 1 January 2020.
Geography
Skjervøy municipality has a land border in the
southwest (on Uløya) to Nordreisa municipality, and borders
otherwise, over the surrounding fjords and sea, in the east towards
Kvænangen and Loppa, in the west towards Lyngen and Karlsøy.
Skjervøy municipality is exclusively an island municipality and
includes the islands Skjervøya, Kågen, Arnøya, Uløya, Laukøya,
Haukøya, Hakkstein, Vorterøya and Follesøyene. The highest point in
the municipality is Store Kågtinden, 1242.8 masl.
The
municipality belongs to the region of North Troms.
Communication
Skjervøy has a fast boat connection to Tromsø.
Hurtigruten also calls at here. The nearest airport is Sørkjosen
Airport in the neighboring municipality Nordreisa approx. 45 min
drive from Skjervøy. The airport is served several times a day by
Widerøe, with departures to Tromsø, with correspondence to Oslo, but
also direct departures to Hammerfest and Kirkenes.
Culture
Millennium site
In 1999, a political decision was made that
Skjervøy's millennium site should have a connection to Leonhard
Seppala, the world-famous dog walker who grew up on Skjervøy.
Originally, they envisioned the possibility of establishing a music
pavilion in Seppalaparken, which is located below the town hall in
Skjervøy center. Due to the fact that the area is exposed to noise,
is located on a slope and is used as a snow dump in the winter, this
was chosen away.
In 2008, it was decided to link the
millennium site to a store on Skjervøy, called "Midt i Værret",
which is located right next to the place Seppala grew up. Here there
are plans to create a small museum, with objects such as pictures
and the like. Seppala resigned when he was last in Norway in the
1950s. However, it has taken some time to get the new building that
is intended to house the Seppala exhibition, but the municipality
believes the place will be established during 2009.