There is much to share and not a lot of time to share it! As I rush to get this out, along with the Spring issue of The Breeze which still haunts me at night, I’m overwhelmed by all that has taken place over the last month up until this very moment. For those out of the loop, the windmill’s upper gearbox is once again on strike and we are working around the clock (and the weather) to try to get that up and running as soon as possible. In the meantime, however, there is still plenty of exciting news to share along with some secrets I can’t quite reveal just yet.

If there was an elephant in the room, it’s name would be Tivoli. This year’s Tivoli Fest was yet another record year. As our closest followers might recall, the Danish Windmill sponsored a digital billboard directly in the middle of the Omaha metro along i80 which broadcast a Tivoli message for most of May and is currently advertising the windmill until the end of June. This was an expensive project that unfortunately the Iowa Tourism Office chose not to fund, but thankfully we have been able to recoup some of the funds so far via the Shelby County Hotel/Motel Tax grant sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.

The results spoke for themselves. Not only was there a single parking space available in all of town over the weekend, nearly every single business posted record numbers in some form or another. The Museum of Danish America posted one of their best visitor counts in the last 25 years and by far the most in recent times. Kringleman Pastries enjoyed record sales and visitors all weekend long with the Egg Krate, Danish Countryside Winery, and Farmhouse Quilting also enjoying considerable turnouts. Even Elk Horn’s relatively new Seneca Studios, which opened just in time for Tivoli last year, had a massive crowd. Owner Ashley Hansen added: “I had an absolutely incredible turnout for Tivoli! I started an hour early, went two hours over, and still had to turn away dozens of people. The amount of people that came in was absolutely mind-blowing. I did not slow down once, whereas last year I was fairly slow by the end of the day.” Driving local commerce has always been a paramount objective for us at the windmill, so to hear this testimony from local businesses is everything we want to hear. Even the windmill, which doubled its festival turnout last year, still saw a sizable increase this year.

The festival itself was yet again a massive hit, too, from a very busy Friday pre-festival day all the way through the fireworks Saturday night. And to top it off, the recently renovated hotel, Hygge Inn & Suites, enjoyed a full booking in addition to a great turnout for the opening of their event center.  We wish to thank all of the community volunteers who make this event possible, especially the Danish smørrebrød team that works tirelessly in the town hall keeping traditional alive year after year. Courtney Davis and Emily Nelson both stepped into the fire this year as new volunteers for the festival committee and we could not be more appreciative for their help and commitment. With the windmill’s 50^th anniversary colliding with Tivoli next year, we are already thinking ahead about the upcoming celebration and know we will need all of the help we can get.

And speaking of, with such an important milestone on the horizon, a lot of attention was put on the mill’s flowerbeds leading up to Tivoli. Between numerous greenhouse trips and a number of mid-SUV sized loads of soil, the flowerbeds all around the windmill have been completely refreshed with new perennials that we hope will add some needed color around the mill throughout the seasons. To ease the usual burden of watering, and ideally conserve water, we’ve also taken care this year to install an above-ground sprinkler system which has been a fantastic investment in time and water thus far. We’re continuing to work towards next year’s big festivities and need plenty of help, so feel free to reach out this Summer if you would like to get involved in making our grounds as beautiful as can be for what will be more than a run-of-the-mill celebration.