In this week’s update: Chalk the Välk at the museum, images from Swedish Pavilion repair, May 3 Millfest preparations, 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 7-13, 2025:
- Thanks to everyone who came out for Chalk the Välk! Internationally famous sidewalk chalk artist David Zinn created a fuzzy friend on the retaining wall behind the Old Mill (we call her “Milly”!) and local youth artist Éowyn created sidewalk art at the museum entryway as a part of the Saturday event!
Thanks to everyone who made this inaugural artistic celebration and competition such a great event!
- Perfect Blend construction to continues 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. It’s 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.
- Staff members progressed on many points of important planning for Millfest and Millfest for Kids next month. Mark your calendars to attend Millfest on Saturday, May 3!
Aubrey coordinated with volunteers and demonstrators, as well as communicating with Millfest for Kids schools. She also ordered more items for the gift shop in preparation for the festival crowds, and picked up sponsorship money and silent auction donations. Adam delivered about 70 event posters around Lindsborg (Did we miss you? Contact him HERE to get a poster for your location), set up advertising for the event, worked on finalizing the Millfest program, followed up with potential sponsors, and requested higher-quality logos for yard signs. All staff met with the Board President to coordinate final planning.
- 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!
- Adam processed a new membership. Thank you! We currently have 125 current and active memberships, but another 49 are overdue. Not sure if your membership is current? Give us a call at 785-227-3595 or email at oldmillmuseum@gmail.com to confirm!
- Adam gave a tour to high school students from Hutchinson High School on Monday!
- Adam provided photos of the Swedish Pavilion being moved to the museum in 1969 to the Lindsborg News-Record.
- Lenora worked on a grant application for funding the Historic Image Database project; Adam provided edits and feedback.
- Aubrey worked on setting up a new upcoming mini-exhibit.
- Lenora met for coffee at Sunflower Terrace to gather local oral history. She also met on Friday to record oral histories about the historic Riverside Station.
- Lenora helped a researcher from Oregon, a couple from Kansas City researching in the archives, and a visitor in town for the Messiah Festival to learn more information about his grandfather.
- Lenora has continued working on an indexing project under contract with ArkivDigital (10 hours)
- 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 Jerry Hammerton, Leland Nelson, Mike Koch, Betty Amos, Tim Stewart, Ava Toll, and Julie-Ann Neywick!