The director of the 1848 Danish Windmill in Elk Horn says they’ve started a fundraising campaign to raise money for repairs. Director Shaun Sayres says they need to repair the windmill’s windshaft and cap frame, and prevent further damage.
“This campaign is it’s multifaceted. There’s different phases that will stretch out over the next number of years, culminating with eventually a new set of millstones. Right now, the priorities we have a couple of repairs that aren’t cheap, that we’re looking to make based on some complications we’ve had from our 2018, 2019, restoration work, when the windmill was essentially down for a little bit, and we had the new sails put on and the new wind shaft put in,” Sayres says.
A skilled crew from Denmark is preparing to come to Elk Horn, and are expected to arrive in a few weeks, to made urgent repairs and install a new wheel. “Which we had done quite a while ago, and it’s been drying our second floor about the last decade, and it’s ready to go. And once that is installed, we will be 100 percent functional up until now. That’s the only thing from the original windmill that has not worked..” he says. “The original wheel is very rotten, it’s not in good shape. So we’re really looking forward to getting all these things done.”
They’ve also created a virtual tour to allow you to experience the attraction inside and out. “You can go into the windmill and go all the way up. There’s different text panels that you can click on to read more about the history and how it works and all that. There’s different videos that show how each one of the gears moves and how they work,” he says.
Sayres say their new capital campaign, “Back on the Grind,” aims to raise $60,000 for Phase One of the repair and upgrade of the Danish Windmill.
Work is set to begin in October. To learn more about the fundraising campaign, or to take a virtual tour of the windmill, go to www.danishwindmill.org
(By Rick Hansen, KJAN, Atlantic)