MONDAY MORNING MUSEUM UPDATE – March 16, 2026

In this week’s update: New Museum Executive Director, Historic Pancake & Waffle Mix releases at 9 a.m. this Saturday, Swedish Genealogy Workshop this week, 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 March 9-15, 2026:

• We are so happy and excited to announce our new Executive Director at the Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum!
  Hayley Samford will have her first day here on Monday, March 30.
  She comes to the museum having most recently served as the Director of Alumni Engagement and Development at Bethany College.
  Samford’s work history includes a proven track record of community engagement, successful fundraising campaigns, and strategic planning.
  With deep personal and family roots in Lindsborg and the museum’s dual emphasis on the history of the Old Mill and the area’s Swedish heritage, she was the perfect fit to lead this 64-year-old museum into the next stage of its journey.
  “My family and personal connections mean the mission of the mill is very personal,” she said. “The Mill and Museum hold generations of memories and have so much to offer Smoky Valley and Kansas as a whole. The growth and success of this complex are the result of many generations’ labors of love—efforts that continue to connect each of us today.”
  In addition to her leadership with Bethany College alumni, previous work in her career has included: Marketing and Corporate Engagement at the Salina Family Healthcare Center, Executive Director of the Oak Harbor Main Street Association (Washington state), CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Salina, and Membership and Community Relations Associate with the Salina Area Chamber of Commerce.
  An alumna of Smoky Valley High School, she holds a bachelor’s of science in business from Baker University and is a 2022 graduate of the US Chamber of Commerce Institute of Management.
  Please join us in congratulating Hayley on her new role leading the Lindsborg Museum team and celebrating her hiring!
  
• We are just five days away from the release of a pancake and waffle flour mix based on the historical recipe from the last owners of the 1898 Smoky Valley Roller Mills.
  The classic flavor of Smoky Valley Best Traditional Pancake Flour is returning to shelves and restaurants starting on Saturday, March 21, 2026 – the day of the Lindsborg Vaffeldagen waffle festival! (You can see a running countdown HERE.)
  As a sneak preview, be sure to catch Adam as he was invited demonstrate the mix on the Good Morning KAKEland morning show on 9:20 a.m. on Thursday, March 19!
  The recipe is about 80 years old and was believed lost until recently when a notebook found during a home renovation in town was discovered to include the hand-written recipe from the Runbeck Brothers, who owned the Old Mill 1934-1955.
  Also on March 21 as a one-time celebration for the festival, we will be selling fresh-baked waffles made from the new mix for $3 each at the museum, starting at 9 a.m. and running through 5 p.m. (or until supplies run out)!
  Full details are in a news release here: www.oldmillmuseum.org/news/#PancakeMix
  On March 21, the product will be released for purchase from the online Museum gift shop at www.oldmillmuseum.org/gift-shop. and in-person at the museum gift shop at 120 E. Mill St. in Lindsborg.
  In addition, we now know that the following locations will also be carrying the mix for sale: White’s Foodliner, The Good Merchant, Hemslöjd, Anderson Butik, The Tea Cup (NEW!), Rosberg House Bed & Breakfast (as foodservice), Prairieland Market (Salina), The Cook’s Nook (McPherson), Krehbiels Specialty Meats (McPherson), Prairy (Newton), Meridian Grocery (Newton), Encore Antiques and Collectibles (Russell), Wilkens Acres (Abilene), and Swedish American Museum and Historical Society (Swedesburg, Iowa).
  Deliveries will be prioritized first to Lindsborg locations. Out-of-town deliveries may take longer into early next week.

  We are very excited to finally be bringing this project to fruition and to bring Kansas (and Iowa!) a delicious taste of the past!

  

• Coming up in our genealogy workshops on THIS, Saturday, March 21, we will have our next regularly scheduled Swedish Genealogy Workshop. Members receive a $20 discount. Register today!
  
• We are participating in the “One Book, One Community” project as a location where a stuffed skunk is “hidden” on display in this Lindsborg reading initiative. In the featured book – “A Boy Called Bat” – the main character and his mother care for an orphaned skunk. During this week of Spring Break, families are encouraged to search for the skunks, take photos, and send their pictures to their school. Our skunk is having a great time learning about the history of flour milling!
  
• We are so thankful to be named for a $2,500 “Community Dream” grant from the McPherson County Community Foundation – presented to Interim Executive Director Lenora Lynam last Monday at the Lindsborg Community Library!
  Most of our guests end up coming to the museum from the east side of Mill Street, but currently the first building they encounter is not in good shape.
  These funds will go to repairs on this eastermost building and an original mural featuring sunflowers, which will be more welcoming and attractive than the current words-only sign that is also starting to crack and peel.
  Huge thanks to the foundation for supporting these improvements to our first impressions!
  
• Bidding is open through THIS Friday, March 20 for the museum mowing and snow removal contracts. Visit www.oldmillmuseum.org/project-bids to submit your best bid for the 2026-2027 contracts.
  
• We are expecting Perfect Blend Construction to be here this week to make repairs to the Train Depot plaster ceiling and the balcony roof of the Swedish Pavilion. These are part of the work being completed under our 2025 Nutt Legacy grant awarded last year through the McPherson County Community Foundation.
• We have made some progress, but still have a distance to go to meet the $20,000 “March Millfest Match Challenge”!
  An anonymous donor has put up $20,000 on the table to encourage sponsorships of our annual Millfest event on May 2. Every sponsorship will be matched dollar for dollar – doubling the value of every sponsorship! With a new $100 sponsorship coming in last week, we have 29.8% of the match met, with $5,950 in sponsorships having come in. The deadline for sponsorships has been extended to March 31 to give people the opportunity to take advantage of the Match Challenge. Learn more about how to contribute HERE.
  Millfest is a unique event that is the one time every year that people can take guided tours of the Old Mill in action. 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! We are also glad to accept anonymous or non-credited donations. See full details including how to arrange your sponsorship with the forms included below.
  
     
• Adam completed some forms and paperwork for three upcoming Kansas Folklife presenters through Humanities Kansas, which will be great additions to the museum’s programming lineup. They include:
  -As a Millfest “preview” event, Gene Chávez will present “Flour Power” at 1:30 p.m. on April 25.
  -As part of our Midsummer’s Festival programming lineup, Donna Rae Pearson will present about Juneteenth at both 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on June 20.
  -As an America 250 special event, Priscilla Howe will present “Tell Your Own Story” at 10 a.m. on Friday, July 10.
  We are very excited to have these special presenters come to the museum! Watch for them to be added to our calendars soon.
  
• We are more than 1/3 of the way toward the funds we will need under the “Raise the Roof” campaign to repair the 1904 World’s Fair Swedish Pavilion’s roof in a more durable and historically accurate way, with $106,431.15 donated to the roof phase of the project. We have applied for a Legacy Nutt grant to try to close the funding gap to finish the project; even so, more will likely be needed to be able to complete this phase 2.
  If you would like to help with Raise the Roof, you can learn more at www.oldmillmuseum.org/raise-the-roof. Contributions made now will not be eligible for the special tax credit opportunity, but may have tax benefits as a qualifying donation to a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization charity. 
  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)!
  
  
• We are continuing our critical Harvest of Giving fundraising event into 2026 as our topline goal in $50,000 in unrestricted donations – to keep the museum lights on and the doors open in 2026 – has not yet been met. Currently, this effort is at about $40,000.
  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% and is not showing any signs of returning. 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.
  
• Volunteers worked on a number of jobs across the museum campus, including painting trim in the gift shop, light bulb replacement, restoration work on the museum’s rare OMC tractor, and construction of new gift shop shelves. Thank you!
  
• Lenora met for coffee at Sunflower Terrace on Tuesday and at Friday friendship coffee in these ongoing community outreach opportunities.
• Our thanks to Roger Bokma, who last week removed several large rocks from the front lawn of the museum that had been displaced during the installation of the ADA sidewalk last year and no longer fit with the landscaping.
• The “A Day with the Birds” temporary exhibit was packed up and removed last week. Particular thanks to the Bethany College track team, Betty Amos, and Leland Nelson, who helped with the removal.
• The collections committee reconvened last week after a hiatus. The current focus is identifying artifacts to add to the immigration exhibit in the museum’s back gallery.
• Lenora assisted a researcher last week who was searching in our local newspaper archive resources.
• Lenora distributed survey sheets to participating schools and groups for Millfest for Kids on May 1.
• Adam gave an Old Mill tour last Tuesday to a ladies’ church group out of Hutchinson.
• Adam worked on the content for two advertising purchases – Radio Kansas underwriting spots and ads to go in the eNewsletter of the International Association of Operative Millers in April. Both ads are geared toward increasing Millfest attendance.
• Editing and design continues for publishing a museum-created book about local history.
• Adam worked with a group planning a visit of about 120 people for October.
• Museum staff continue to work on Millfest planning, including finishing sending invitations to Old Mill owner descendants. Millfest is Saturday, May 2.
• Adam made a number of modest website content updates.
• Museum staff met with a college cinema student last week interested in possibly doing a short film on a museum-related topic.
• Adam processed and mailed an online gift shop order.
• Tyler worked on scanning printed literature while Julie Ann Neywick worked on scanning historic photos.

Thank you to our weekly volunteers!
This week that included Jerry Hammerton, Karmon Almquist, Alan James, Leland Nelson, Betty Amos, , and Julie Ann Neywick.