In this week’s update: Heritage Christmas results, museum membership opportunity before January rate increase, Swedish Pavilion tax credits remaining, $50K Harvest of Giving year-end campaign and more!
In this update, keep up to date on what staff and volunteers at the Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum are working on to lift up the history of Lindsborg and the surrounding region. This weekly update both looks back at what happened and looks ahead at what’s coming.
For December 8-14, 2025:
- Heritage Christmas 2025 was last Saturday! Despite the frigid temperatures, about 350 people came out to hear holiday music being performed again back in the Swedish Pavilion, as well as all the other fun attractions of this cozy holiday tradition. Thank you to everyone who attended and see you next year on December 12, 2026!
- Adam processed 8 renewing and one new museum membership last week!
Even so, we are currently showing more than 75 recent membership supporters who are overdue on renewing.
Have you renewed your museum membership? (Are you sure?)
Because all membership levels will be going up by $10 on January 1, this is the perfect time to extend your membership by a year – even if the expiration date isn’t coming up soon – or to secure a membership for the first time at the lower rate.
(The new rates starting next year will be $50 for an individual membership, $70 for a family membership, or $135 for a business membership.)
Memberships are a critical source of reliable support for the museum!
Give us a call at 785-227-3595 or email at oldmillmuseum@gmail.com and we will be glad to check on your status. It’s also a great time to think about becoming a new member if you’ve never been one before, or to purchase a gift membership for someone special in your life! See www.oldmillmuseum.org/members for details!
-
We are now in our third round of tax credits under our Community Service Program grant, going to repair the 1904 World’s Fair Swedish Pavilion!Under this program, we have remaining $7,500 in donation capacity to “Raise the Roof” with a more durable and historically accurate roof on the historic 121-year-old structure.What’s more, qualified taxpayers who give at least $250 and who file a Kansas state tax return can get 70% of their donation BACK as a fully refundable tax credit!Don’t let the opportunity pass you by! Call us at 785-227-3595 or email at oldmillmuseum@gmail.com for more details.
Overall, this opportunity has raised $257,931.15 for repairs and improvements to the Pavilion.
Contributions under the grant paid for critical structural repairs (costing $151,500), allowing us to safely reopen the Pavilion to the public in summer 2025. We are also more than halfway toward the funds we will need under the “Raise the Roof” campaign to repair the Pavilion’s roof in a more durable and historically accurate way, with $106,431.15 going to the roof phase of the project.
If you would like to help with Raise the Roof, you can learn more at www.oldmillmuseum.org/raise-the-roof.
We have several recognition reward levels available: These include recognition on our website and an invitation to a special VIP event once all of the funds needed for the roof (at $100 or more) and opportunities to have a “roof tile” with custom wording added to a permanent honor wall (at $1,000 or more)!
- Ongoing in December we have our critical Harvest of Giving 2025 year-end fundraising event. Our topline goal is $50,000 in unrestricted donations to keep the museum lights on and the doors open in 2026. In the space of four years, a major source of public funding has gone from covering half of our annual expenses to less than 8%. Because of this, it is more important than ever for generous private donors, businesses, and organizations to step in and ensure that the rare experiences at the Museum continue to be available in 2026. Learn more and make your charitable donation today at www.oldmillmuseum.org/harvest-of-giving.
- Sponsorship opportunities for Millfest 2026 are now open and available! Already we have had $1,150 in event sponsorship dollars come in!
Scheduled next year for Saturday, May 2, this is the one time annually that our visitors can take guided tours of the 1898 Old Mill IN OPERATION! The festival also includes, music, entertainment, arts & crafts, antique tractor show, games, demonstrations and face painting!
Giving levels to sponsor run from as little as $25 to get your name in the program to $5,000 or more to secure topline “Brought to you by…” overall event sponsorship. You can also choose to direct your donation to specific Millfest attractions, including face painting, tractor show, Old Mill tours, or music performances! See full details including how to arrange your sponsorship with the forms included below.
- Adam confirmed with Sunflower Food Company that the next round of a flour mix in development will be coming this week.
- Aubrey attended a planning meeting for the upcoming Smithsonian “Democracy in Dialogue” that the museum will be a part of next year.
- Lenora worked on planning for the next Swedish Genealogy Workshop planned for March 21.
- Lenora contacted the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks on a potential grant opportunity.
- Lenora continued work on cataloging new artifact donations. Of particular note this week was a receipt book from the Smoky Valley Best Fish Bait Co., as well as handwritten bait recipes. We were previously unaware that the Old Mill facility was also producing and selling fish bait in its last years as a business during the 1950s.
- Lenora attended coffee at Sunflower Terrace in this continued community outreach opportunity.
- Lenora continued indexing work under the museum’s agreement with ArkivDigital.
- We are excited to offer the first “Discover Your Past” Virtual Genealogy Workshop, set for Saturday, January 31, 2026!
Rather than the usual focus on Swedish genealogy research resources, this time the sessions will be able to apply to ANY genealogy or family research, regardless of country background! Museum members register with a $20 discount. We hope you can join us!
- Tyler continued working on scanning historic publications.
Thank you to our weekly volunteers!