Vevelstad

Vevelstad is a municipality in Nordland county, Norway. It is part of the Helgeland traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Forvika.

The 539 km2 municipality is the 199th largest by area out of the 356 municipalities in Norway. Vevelstad is the 352nd most populous municipality in Norway with a population of 454. The municipality's population density is 0.9 PD/km2 and its population has decreased by 9.2% over the previous 10-year period.

General information
The municipality of Vevelstad was established on 1 July 1916 when it was separated from the municipality of Tjøtta. Initially, the municipality had 1,097 residents. On 1 July 1920, the Giskå farm area (population: 10) was transferred from Tjøtta to Vevelstad. The borders have not changed since that time.

Name
The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old Vevelstad farm (Vifilsstaðir), since the first Vevelstad Church was built there. The first element is the genitive case of the Old Norse male name Vifill and the last element is the plural form of which means "homestead" or "farm", therefore it means "Vifill's homestead".

Coat of arms
The coat of arms was granted on 13 November 1991. The official blazon is "Azure, three inverted couped chevrons argent, two and one" (I blått tre omvendte svevende sølv sparrer, 2-1). This means the arms have a blue field (background) and the charge is three V-shaped figures (two over one). The V-shapes have a tincture of argent which means it is commonly colored white, but if it is made out of metal, then silver is used. The arms are canting, showing the first letter of the name of the municipality, V. The municipality applied for arms in the 1970s, but all the proposals were rejected by either the municipal council or the National Archives. Finally, the present arms were adopted and granted in 1991. The arms were designed by Odd P. Olsen.

Churches
The Church of Norway has one parish (sokn) within the municipality of Vevelstad. It is part of the Sør-Helgeland prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Sør-Hålogaland.

Geography
The municipality lies in the middle of Norway, surrounded by mountains and fjords. A lot of the municipality is a part of Lomsdal–Visten National Park. The lake Søre Vistvatnet lies in the southeastern part of the municipality inside the national park. Most of the residents live along the coastline or on the island Hamnøya. The mouth of the Velfjorden lies in the southern part of the municipality.

Government
All municipalities in Norway are responsible for primary education (through 10th grade), outpatient health services, senior citizen services, welfare and other social services, zoning, economic development, and municipal roads and utilities. The municipality is governed by a municipal council of directly elected representatives. The mayor is indirectly elected by a vote of the municipal council. The municipality is under the jurisdiction of the Helgeland District Court and the Hålogaland Court of Appeal.

Municipal council
The municipal council (Kommunestyre) of Vevelstad is made up of 13 representatives that are elected to four year terms. The tables below show the current and historical composition of the council by political party.

Mayors
The mayors (ordfører) of Vevelstad (incomplete list):


 * 1945-1967: Ragnvald Vevelstad (Ap)
 * 1967-1970: Eilif Slotvik
 * 1970-1975: Ragnvald Vevelstad (Ap)
 * 1976-1979: Alf Arnes (V)
 * 1980-1987: Per Vevelstad (Ap)
 * 1988-1999: Harald Axelsen (Ap)
 * 1999-2003: Arnt O. Åsvang (LL)
 * 2003-2015: Ken-Richard Hansen (LL)
 * 2015-2019: Kari Anne Bøkestad Andreassen (LL)
 * 2019–2023: Torhild Haugann (Sp)
 * 2023–present: Sivert Vevelstad (Ap)

Notable people

 * Kari Anne Bøkestad Andreassen (born 1973 in Vevelstad), a Norwegian politician who was the first female Mayor of the municipality