It’s the slow time again as tourism slows to a crawl. While there has still been plenty to do at the mill, there isn’t a lot going on worth sharing, but still have some updates to put out.

Phyllis Hoegh has finished the count and the guestbook numbers are done. The Mill received 69,466 visitors last year. This includes guests from all 50 states in addition to 35 foreign countries. We even had 272 visitors from Denmark.

Speaking of the Welcome Center, we are taking the downtime to clean up our brochure area and get everything reorganized. This includes removing brochure space off of one wall to make room for our new community bulletin board where local organizations and residents can share information about upcoming events. Thumbtacks provided.

In the gift shop, we finished with another stellar year even despite the snowy weekends of November and December. Sales revenue hit its best figure since 2003, and we remain hopeful that the trend will continue this year. We continue to bring new lines of merchandise into the store including some new Blue Delft decor which is now on the shelves. Our 2026 collectibles from Royal Copenhagen and Bing & Grøndahl are also available. The Christmas plate designs this year are both stunning and the cat figurine has already been sold out temporarily.

The windmill held its annual organization meeting on Monday, January 26 with exceptional attendance of 78 members. Given that this year is our 50th anniversary, we switched things up a bit for the occasion. The meeting was held at the renovated Hygge Inn & Suites now open as a hotel and event venue. And, as a gesture of appreciation, all members were treated to a complementary Danish meal catered by Master Grillers Catering of Kimballton.

The meeting itself was also very productive. A petition was pushed forth by members this year to amend and update the current Bylaws which were last revised in 2000. Notable changes include more flexible language around quorum and when the annual meeting can be held, as well as membership dues, which are now decided by the Board and no longer encoded in the Bylaws in specific amounts. For 2026, the individual annual and family annual memberships remain at $10 and $20, respectively. However, lifetime memberships were raised to $250 and $500 for individual and family plans.

Three new board members were elected for 2026: Tim Andersen (Audubon), Jimmy Cogdill (Kimballton), and Mike Howard (Elk Horn). We also wish to thank Andy Anderson (Elk Horn), Brandon Baggett (Elk Horn), and Tony Petersen (Kimballton) for their service on the Board. Anderson and Petersen both served the full extent of 9 consecutive years or three terms.

Shaun discussed upcoming projects for this year as well as plans for the Education & Preservation Center which is still in process of being renovated. The current roof needs to be replaced and the inside is still in need of work in both rooms, but mainly the classroom at this point.

We also debuted our 50th anniversary logo which is currently being printed onto t-shirts and other souvenirs to mark the occasion. The design was completed by local artist, Deborah King. It was partly inspired by the 1977 Bing & Grøndahl plate of the windmill in Nørre Snede, Denmark. Blue plates have always been central to our organization, and we felt it best to commemorate our golden year with a similar aesthetic. T-shirts are already up for preorders on our website.

Looking ahead, the mill will be participating at the Omaha Home & Garden Show at the CHI Center from Feb. 27 to Mar. 1. Kringleman Pastries will also be there.

Finally, if all goes well, this article will debut in a new local news section of the Harlan newspaper. Readers are invited to check out past issues and articles at danishwindmill.org.