There is a troll in Elk Horn now, and the effects can be felt just about everywhere, Norse Horse, Kringleman, and the windmill are all seeing an early uptick in tourism traffic. We’ve been joking with the Museum of Danish America from the beginning that everyone is going to stop at the windmill looking for the troll, and so far that seems to have been the case. Day after day, we have people stopping in or calling us for more information about where to find it. We saw a 23% increase in visitor traffic for the month of April, and we anticipate this trend continuing in the coming months. We also wish to thank all of those who contributed to the project, both volunteers and financiers. The troll has been a welcome addition to the fabric of our community and we hope it may paddle in a new wave of prosperity for years to come.

We’ve had several ongoing projects at the windmill. Our YouTube livestream is finally stable and is live. This shouldn’t be confused with METC’s Millcam which also has changed locations recently. We’ve also added some cameras inside the windmill now, and may have some of them broadcasted in the future to show the gears.

Work on the Education & Preservation Center is also progressing. The front room is nearly finished, except for furnishing, and we are hoping to have the electrical finished this week. We wish thank Deborah King, Mike Howard, and Tim Palmer for volunteering this past month to help things move along. We are aiming to have the building ready for Tivoli Fest, but it is getting down to the wire.

Speaking of Tivoli Fest, we have some new stuff coming this year. For the regular festival, there will be horseback riding south of the windmill and a bags tournament at the fire station on Saturday. Hansen House (Harlan) will be offering shuttle services around town and will have their electric train available on the west side of town for rides. The new Kulturhus will also be open and will be featuring Warren Watson presentations on Saturday, May 23.

We’ve also spearheaded an attempt to expand Tivoli Fest to Sunday again this year. The Tour de Tivoli Bike Ride is being revived, this year as a fundraiser towards our Back on the Grind capital campaign for new millstones. Riders can pay $25 to ride the 26-mile course to Prairie Rose and Kimballton, or $50 for a ticket that includes a free t-shirt and breakfast voucher at the hotel. Registration is open at danishwindmill.com.

To ensure everyone has a place to eat, we’ve also partnered with SCSB and METC to host a breakfast at Hygge Inn, featuring a buffet catered by Master Grillers which will be open from 8 to 11. This breakfast is open to the public for free will donation and we encourage anyone and everyone to join us. Proceeds will be going towards the windmill’s fundraiser. We wish to thank SCSB and METC for their support of this event.

Afterwards, Elk Horn Lutheran Church will have an outdoor service at Morning Star Chapel next to the windmill. If you regularly miss the viking demonstrations during Tivoli Fest, there will be an encore performance on Sunday as well. Finally, the windmill will remain open with free admission the entire day from 8AM to 5PM. We hope these new (and returning) generate some interest and help us raise the funds we need to take the windmill up another level.

Finally, our authentic Danish postkasse has been installed inside the gift shop. We wish to thank Brenda Nelson and Tony Hough for helping us purchase it as well as all of those who donated in support. A text panel recognizing supporters will be installed soon.

Please note: Our new website is slated to debut in early June and we will see some changes in our digital landscape. This blogpost section will be discontinued and we will have a new one functioning on the new site. We also have backend changes that are part of this which may impact how emails are received for some subscribers. We ask that if you experience any perceived issues, please contact Shaun directly at mgr@danishwindmill.com. We're excited for the coming changes and hope the coming change in scenery will go as smoothly as possible. As part of this, this website as it currently exists will be phased out and replaced with an enhanced danishwindmill.com. Once this website is down, all .org queries will be redirected to the new site.