In this week’s update: Millfest is May 3, Pavilion progress, upcoming appearance on KPTS “See Taste Do,” and more!
In our weekly 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 last week and looks ahead at what’s coming.
For April 14-20, 2025:
- Millfest 2025 is just a week from Saturday on May 3! Make your plans now to come!
See the Old Mill in action with a guided tour, enjoy the art and crafts fair, listen to live music, select a delicious meal, and much more!
NEW this year: artistic face painting in the afternoon, an antique tractor show, and a performance by Randy Baldwin Band.
See the full day’s activities and attractions in the program below.
Staff members progressed on worked on many points of important planning for Millfest and Millfest for Kids, including:
Lenora and Aubrey worked on finalizing the Millfest for Kids schedule; Aubrey confirmed with all schools attending Millfest for Kids, all demonstrators, and all volunteers; Aubrey picked up a gift card that will be part of the silent auction fundraiser; Aubrey added several last-minute vendors to the lineup; Adam wrote and sent out a news release about Millfest; Adam provided a phone interview to Radio Kansas; Adam finalized the Millfest program and sent off for printing; and Adam emailed museum members about Millfest.
- Perfect Blend Construction to continues to make great progress on the physical structural repairs for the 1904 World’s Fair Swedish Pavilion! Because they are beginning repairs on the interior attic space of the Pavilion, it may be several weeks before the public starts seeing the results of the work. This week, we’re featuring a gallery of several new pictures showing the critical metal strapping being installed in the rafter area to reinforce the roof area as well as images of the supply staging areas.
The work is estimated to be completed by early summer; and when completed, this will allow us to safely reopen the Pavilion to the public! Thanks to everyone who donated to help us reach the $151,500 needed for these critical repairs! Tax credits are still available for the 2025 tax year, with proceeds going to help with a new planned Pavilion roof! Learn more at www.oldmillmuseum.org/save-the-pavilion.
- The Monday “Morning” Museum update is coming to you a bit later than usual because this morning we welcomed the creators of the new “See Taste Do” series from KPTS public television out of Wichita. Each episode features one thing to “see,” to “taste” and to “do” in a community. The series premieres this Tuesday, April 22, but the museum is slated to be the featured “See” attraction on the Tuesday, May 13 episode about Lindsborg, along with Indigo Moo’d ice cream (“taste”) and Hemslöjd quadcycle rides (“do”). We hope you take some time to see Lindsborg being featured in such a prominent way!
- With the rain last night, we thought some folks would like to know that our friend “Milly” – drawn by internationally famous sidewalk chalk artist David Zinn during Chalk the Välk – survived the showers and is still on the retaining wall near the Old Mill! Being on the side of the wall appears to have provided protection, and we’re so happy Milly has decided to stick around!
- In news of other improvements on the museum campus, the Museum Handy Crew has finished installing a new handrail for the steps on one walkway into the museum! This handrail will be safer to use and also features automatic solar lighting for a safer pathway during evening and night events! Close to the Old Mill, Lindsborg local Lloyd Rohr is installing a sturdier fence outside the Old Mill courtyard area. When completed, it will also include a historical mural in metal – celebrating our agricultural and Swedish heritage!
- A Wild Dala glass artwork ornament was found last week at the museum! This one really went wild and went undiscovered for nearly a year!
Congratulations!
- Two upcoming genealogy workshop events are coming soon and are now open for registration! (Please note that we are now using a new process with the Eventbrite platform for registration and payment.)
Sue Schlichting with Pursuing YOUR Past will present “Inspiring the Next Generation of Genealogists” on Saturday, May 31. It is free for museum members or just $10 for non-members. Register and pay for the presentation at the link HERE.
Then on Saturday, June 7, we’ll have our next virtual Swedish Genealogy Workshop with four great sessions, including the return of Maureen Taylor, The Photo Detective. The cost is $50, or $30 for museum members. Register and pay at the link HERE.
- We have an opportunity to help the museum while picking up a great computer tablet for yourself! THREE of these have already been sold; get one of the TWO remaining before they sell out!
We recently used grant funds to purchase five Lenovo P11 (2nd gen) tablets to implement our first augmented reality tour of the 1898 Smoky Valley Roller Mills, only to discover that Lenovo sells slightly different builds of the tablet under the exact same model name. Unfortunately, that slight difference – most likely in the GPS location services – means it won’t work with the Wintor augmented reality app we’re using for the tour, and Amazon is not accepting a return of the tablets.
This means a great opportunity for you! You can purchase one of these never-used tablets (specifications here) with charging cord and AC adapter, plus a heavy duty protective case (with hand strap, shoulder strap, and kickstand) for $265, which just represents the cost we paid for each tablet and case. This will help us to recover the grant funds and purchase different tablets that will work with the tour app.
Contact us at oldmillmuseum@gmail.com to make arrangements for your purchase!
- Lenora worked completed a grant application for funding the Historic Image Database project; Adam provided edits and feedback.
- Adam prepared our application to be part of Sunflower Summer 2025 in July.
- Lenora met for coffee at Sunflower Terrace to gather local oral history.
- Lenora continued to work on Swedish research for a visitor from Oregon.
- Lenora and Tyler worked on the Svensk Hyllningsfest scanning project and on assembling a bibliography of books and papers written about Lindsborg or by Lindsborg authors.
- Adam made several updates to the website to make its information more current.
- Lenora has continued working on an indexing project under contract with ArkivDigital (10 hours)
- Adam wrote and submitted the quarterly update report on the Community Service Program tax credits grant.
- Adam provided edits for signage for an upcoming mini-exhibit on fossils.
- Adam completed and submitted the necessary forms to request the second half of the 2024-2025 Kansas Arts Commission General Operating Support grant.
- Need a great gift for the genealogist or history enthusiast in your life? NEW in the museum gift shop, you can now purchase a gift certificate good for a free registration to one of the museum’s Online Swedish Genealogy Workshops anytime in 2025 ($50) or a 2025 Pursuing YOUR Past presentation ($10). Your gift recipient will receive a one-time-use code by email or mail good to pay for the registration fee for one of these popular sessions!
Thank you to our museum volunteers!
Last week, this included Leland Nelson, Betty Amos, Karmon Almquist, Mike Koch, Jerry Sperling, Cathy Ahlstedt, Dakota Johnson and Julie-Ann Neywick!