New state anthem instills sense of North Dakota pride

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) – In 1947, North Dakota designated “North Dakota Hymn” as the official state song.

Now, in 2023 the state has a new state anthem.

The anthem was written by two childhood friends and lifelong North Dakotans.

It celebrates North Dakota’s people and the beauty, and it’s instilling a renewed pride in those who live here.

This is the result of a project two buddies started working on during the pandemic. They never expected it to go this far.

“I’m a teacher’s aide. I’m a dad. That’s my life now so this this whole thing is not what I expected,” said Josh Silbernagel, who grew up in Casselton and now lives in Bismarck.

Two years ago, he and his childhood friend, Kyle Gagner, started writing this song, the North Dakota Anthem.

“It was just two North Dakota guys just kind of geeking out about North Dakota,” Silbernagel admitted. “We cooked this thing up and we kind of felt like it was something a little bigger than us.”

They had some friends in Nashville record the song, then they gave it to North Dakota Tourism. Tourism spent time finding just the right images to make the song come to life.

“I want people to feel things when they see it and hopefully it reminds them of home or a memory they had when they were here,” said Alicia Jolliffe, social strategist for North Dakota tourism.

“The visual element took all of these thoughts and ideas about the places that I was seeing in my head and put people into them, and it was really moving for me to see,” added Silbernagel.

The video has North Dakotans standing a little taller proud to call this state home.

“It reminds me that like yeah, like these are all the reasons why you fell in love with this state and why you choose to live, work, play here and call it home,” said Jolliffe.

“I’m always proud to be from North Dakota,” said Silbernagel. “I love the land. I love the people. It’s just a special place.”

A special place that this song might inspire others to visit and maybe even call home.

You can listen to the anthem on the North Dakota Tourism YouTube page (The North Dakota Anthem – YouTube). It’s also uploaded to all streaming channels – just search “North Dakota Anthem.”

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