The windmill continues to turn as the winds of Spring crest our Loess Hills, blowing in fresh air, some needed rain, and tearing down a few trees. Our latest windstorm tore down a large evergreen behind the windmill when a 55-mph gust lifted the tree out of the ground, roots and all. Our antique farm mill also sustained some damage, but we are hoping to spruce that up later this year. The downed evergreen has since been removed, and the benefit of this is we now have more crowd space for audiences to watch folk dancing and other events on the entertainment stage during Tivoli Fest.

Speaking of Tivoli, the festival is nearing quickly. The annual coronation dinner is Saturday, April 5^th with tickets available at METC, SCSB, and the windmill. There is still plenty of time to get involved in volunteering for the festival, and we need all of the help we can get, so get in touch with Chelsee Jacobsen (city clerk) or Jill Madsen (METC) about volunteering opportunities. The windmill is ready for another exciting year. We will have all our usual entertainment options including the annual Viking invasion and folk dancing performances. We also partnered with local artist, Deborah King, who designed the cover for our new Tivoli Blend coffee, now available in the gift shop. The cannister features a festive Danish scene including the windmill, mermaid, and some of the iconic buildings of the Danish Villages.

For most businesses in town including the windmill, Tivoli Fest is the busiest and most profitable two days of the year. We would like to thank Danish Mutual Insurance for donating $2,500.00 towards Tivoli Fest’s live entertainment this year. The Museum of Danish America will sponsor this year’s Danish folk music performances which will include an extra performance on Friday, May 23 at the museum complex. As noted earlier, the windmill is sponsoring a billboard in Omaha, NE. East-bound interstate 80 traffic nearing the exit ramp for interstate 480 will be met with a large LED billboard capturing attention for our annual ethnic celebration. Local investment in this festival benefits the community as a whole.

We’re excited to announce that Joni Griffin has stepped down from our Board of Directors to join our team at the windmill. Try to stop by sometime and say ‘hej.’ We’re excited to have Joni with us and have no doubt she will be an invaluable asset for us. This also means that there is a vacancy on our Board of Directors. Anyone interested in opportunities to join our Board should get in touch with members of the nominating committee, Bill Rollins and Joanne Greving.

In other news, the windmill was forced to pay $880.00 back to the Iowa Tourism office last month. These funds were initially awarded for the FY2024 Tourism Grant program and were part of the money we used to pay for local billboards promoting Julefest last year. This particularly project proved to be very effectives as many local businesses reported some of the best Julefest numbers reached in many years. Unfortunately, due to billing delays related to office closures during the week of Christmas, the necessary payment was not drawn from our bank account until January 3^rd. This momentary delay resulted in these funds being disqualified for grant use and so had to be forfeited back to the state. This especially stings since our requests for funds to pay for the Omaha billboard we will have this year were denied.

On that note, we would like to take a moment to clear the air about nonprofits and what it means for us financially. We occasionally receive, directly or indirectly, comments or questions about the kinds of fiscal support we receive and what we’re expected to pay in taxes and other obligations. The short of it is that, first, nonprofits are not exempt from many of the bills and services an ordinary business pays for. We still have utilities, maintenance, advertising needs, and so on that are not free or discounted because of our status. Second, we also do not receive direct financial support from either the federal government or the state of Iowa, and we must fight tooth-and-nail among other local organizations for funds from overstretched local community foundations.

And while it may seem like there is a sea of grants to apply for, most of them do not apply to our circumstances and/or are inundated with other applicants struggling to survive. This is a bleak situation to be in as budget cuts at both the state and national level continue to slash endowment programs and other critical funding sources for the larger museums that depend on them. The trickle-down effects of this critical funding for educational organizations and cultural heritage sites like our own could be devastating. While we continue to remain hopeful for a positive future, it must be acknowledged, we are not on solid ground right now.