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Archive for Sunday, May 02,=20 2004

Sweden on the plains

By Beverly=20 Beyette
May 02, 2004 = in print edition L-1

Here in =93Little Sweden, U.S.A.=94=96 = where a day=20 without something Swedish is like a day without sunflowers =96 it = didn=92t=20 surprise me to see a woman wearing a T-shirt proclaiming, = =93Swedish=20 by marriage.=94

On a spin through central Kansas in June, I had come = to Lindsborg =96=20 population 3,200 =96 for its annual Midsommardag, or Midsummer=92s = Day fete, a=20 tradition that in Sweden marks summer solstice, the longest day of = the=20 year. The festival was brought to Kansas by immigrants, who came in = the=20 1860s; it died out in the 1930s and was revived in 1971. (This = year=92s fete=20 will be June 19.)

It was Valkommen (welcome) one and all, as the revelry got = underway in=20 Swensson Park on a drizzly Saturday, with announcer John Pearson=20 proclaiming, =93Let the festivities begin!=94 Whereupon women in = long dresses=20 with aprons and men in knee britches and vests marched in, two by = two,=20 playing a traditional Swedish walking song, or marsch, on their = fiddles.=20 (In Sweden, processions =96 such as that of a newlywed couple from = church to=20 home =96 are traditionally preceded by fiddling musicians.) Then = came the=20 Lindsborg Swedish Folk Dancers, a high school troupe performing = polkas and=20 schottisches. The blue and yellow Swedish flag flew alongside the = Stars and=20 Stripes, and a quartet sang both nations=92 anthems.

And that was just the warmup.

The main event, the raising of the flower-decked majstang = (maypole),=20 followed by dancing and merriment, would be that evening on the = green at=20 Heritage Square at the Old Mill Historical Complex.

What had drawn me to the Kansas plains was the promise of = seeing a=20 different slice of ethnic America, in a town where = Swedish Americans,=20 although not living in some long-ago past, value and preserve their = heritage. And what better time to visit than at festival time?

At Swensson Park, I chatted with Mayor Ron Rolander, = whose Swedish=20 great-grandfather homesteaded in the area. =93They say Lindsborg is = more=20 Swedish than Sweden,=94 said Rolander, who=92s never been = to Sweden.

Rosy-cheeked girls with blomkrans (flower crowns) in their hair = skipped=20 through the park. Even people who are not Swedish could get into = the spirit=20 by being photographed with their heads poking through cardboard = cutouts of=20 a pair of costumed Swedes dancing. Swedish meatball sandwiches, = Swedish=20 pancakes, potato sausages and homemade ice cream with lingonberries = were=20 being dished out at booths.

I had flown into Kansas City, rented a car and driven about 200 = miles=20 west to Lindsborg, arriving in a cloudburst and following a = brick-paved=20 road to the turreted pink and blue Rosberg House B&B, where the = Lincoln=20 Room awaited me. (David Spellman, who with his wife, Sabrina, runs = the=20 Victorian inn, is a Civil War buff and had a hand in the room=92s = decor). I=20 settled into a wing chair and perused a book on = Honest Abe.

Art fanciers may know of Lindsborg through Swedish-born Birger = Sandzen,=20 a Paris-trained modernist whose oils, watercolors and lithographs = are in=20 some of the world=92s great repositories, including the = Metropolitan Museum=20 of Art and the British Museum. For many years he taught at Bethany = College=20 here; the handsome Birger Sandzen Memorial Gallery on campus = displays,=20 among his works, oils of the Western and Southwestern landscapes=20 he loved.

My first taste of Lindsborg was at the Vasa, a cozy brick-walled = spot=20 with a fireplace in the rear of the Swedish Crown restaurant on = Main=20 Street, where I sampled the Swedish sampler =96 meatballs, ham = loaf, dilled=20 potatoes, pickled herring.

Lindsborg, dominated by twin grain silos, is primarily a farming = community. But the town and surrounding Smoky Valley area have = attracted a=20 colony of artists working in various media. Beth Walker, formerly = of Seal=20 Beach, can be found at her loom at Elizabeth=92s on Main Street. = Other local=20 talents include a basket maker, jewelry makers, potters, painters = and=20 woodcarvers. Small galleries abound. At Helmslojd, a Scandinavian = gift shop=20 and studio at 201 N. Main St., visitors = can watch=20 craftspeople creating Dala horses.

The herd of pony-sized 4-foot fiberglass Dala = (pronounced daw-lah)=20 horses stabled around town were fancifully decorated by some = of those=20 artists for =93Search for the Wild Dala,=94 a public art project = begun in 2000.=20 =93I thought it was really silly to start with,=94 said the mayor, = =93but guess who sponsored one? If I had a dollar = for every=20 time my horse has been photographed, I could retire. People spend=20 all day finding every one of them.=94

There are 29 of the tailless equines, including the spotted = Dala-matian;=20 Salvador Dala; Hello, Dala; and Two Bits, Four Bits, Six Bits, a = Dala.=20 Several were decorated by Shirley Malm, who creates updated Swedish = objets=20 d=92art at the Station, a studio and shop in a converted 1930s gas = station on=20 Harrison Street. (The Chamber of Commerce at 104 E.=20 Lincoln has a free guide to the Dala herd.)

The Dala horse has its roots in 18th century Sweden, where = lumberjacks=20 in Dalarna province would gather around a fire after winter days = felling=20 logs and carve horses from wood scraps. Village children treasured = them=20 and, later, it became popular to paint the horses in bright colors = with=20 floral motifs much the same way as people of the province decorated = their=20 furniture and interior walls. Some of the Dala horses sold here are = made in=20 Sweden, some locally. The Dala also appears on mugs and mouse pads = and even=20 on the municipal seal.

Although the mayor at first scorned the horse project, = he isn=92t=20 anti-innovation. Indeed, he ran for office because he =93thought we = were kind=20 of stagnant=94 and needed to spiff up downtown. He helped negotiate = a=20 million-dollar federal grant to create a hiking and biking trail = =96 now on=20 the drawing board =96 along the town=92s abandoned = railroad line.

Lindsborg has emerged as a mini-mecca for chess devotees and in = July=20 will host the U.S. junior chess tournament. It = all=20 began when Russian-born Mikhail Korenman of the Bethany College=20 faculty lured former world champion Anatoly Karpov here for a 2002=20 tournament. A year later, Karpov chose Lindsborg as the home for = the=20 only Anatoly Karpov International School of Chess in the United=20 States, offering classes taught by grandmasters. He spends two = weeks here=20 each year.

Lindsborg=92s cultural life is closely tied to the college, a = four-year=20 Lutheran liberal arts institution founded by immigrant Swedes in = 1881. Its=20 annual Easter week presentation of Handel=92s =93Messiah,=94 a 122-year tradition, has been = broadcast=20 on public television. A farmer and a doctor may be singing side by = side=20 in the 300-voice choir.

The biennial Svensk Hyllningsfest, a three-day festival with = parade held=20 every other October (the next will be in 2005), honors the town=92s = forefathers, who came fleeing drought, famine and religious = persecution=20 in Sweden.

A new generation of creative people like Jim and = Kathy Richardson have=20 settled in Lindsborg. Seven years ago they abandoned Denver and = moved here=20 with son Tyler, now 18. =93I was astounded by how much talent there = was in=20 this town,=94 said Kathy, who runs their Small World gallery in = what was, in=20 the 1920s, a women=92s toggery shop on Main Street while Jim = travels on photo=20 shoots for National Geographic.

The Richardsons are among co-founders of the = gag-loving Lindsborg=20 Lunatic Fringe, which last year staged =93No Smiling Day=94 on Main = Street. =93We=20 all got dressed up in our black suits =96 the ones we pull out once = a year to=20 sing in =91The Messiah=92 =96 put on our dour faces,=94 Jim said, = and they paraded=20 up and down Main Street carrying signs, =93Don=92t Even=20 Think of Laughing.=94 =93Some people were sure we were some sort of = radical=20 group,=94 he said. =93Others gave us high-fives and really thought = it was=20 hilarious.=94 Fringe member Becky Anderson, proprietor of the = Swedish Country=20 Inn, said, =93Lindsborg has always been full of = eccentric people.=94

There=92s the rather eccentric John Whitfield, 76. He=92s = known for his=20 liturgical carvings and sculpture and has built a free-standing = chapel next=20 to his home made from odds and ends such as old jukebox parts. He = created=20 the sculpture that stands at the community hospital and is = represented in=20 the Birger Sandzen Gallery. The son of lay missionaries =96 his = father was=20 English, his mother a Kansan =96 Whitfield doesn=92t buy into the = mania for all=20 things Swedish, even though he has lived here for 19 years. But he = did get=20 into the spirit one year, riding a bike under a boat float in=20 the Hyllningsfest parade. Unfortunately, he ignited the boat=92s = cannons=20 with a firecracker and it nearly =93blew me over.=94

The place to be at 5 p.m. Saturday of Midsommardag was at the = Swedish=20 smorgasbord in the Bethany College student union. Sitting down next = to=20 Steve Pera, pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church, I asked whether = =93Prairie=20 Home Companion=94 host Garrison Keillor gets it right when he = tweaks=20 Lutherans as reticent and quaintly moderate in all matters. He = smiled and=20 said, =93Pretty much right.=94

Sated with meatballs, cucumber salad and Swedish tea ring, = revelers=20 continued on to the Old Mill Complex, where there=92s a Swedish = pavilion from=20 the 1904 St. Louis World=92s Fair. Under a humid sky, young and = old, even=20 those with babes in arms, joined in the dancing.

Low plains drifter

On Sunday, with downtown pretty much shuttered, I drove 45 miles = southwest to Hutchinson and the Kansas Cosmosphere and = Space Center, where=20 I spent two hours, enthralled. This terrific museum has World War = II German V-1 and V-2 rockets, the flight jacket = worn=20 by test pilot Chuck Yeager when he broke the sound barrier = over the=20 California desert in 1947 and the restored Odyssey command module = from the=20 hair-raising Apollo 13 flight (=93OK, Houston, we=92ve had a = problem here

Heading back to Lindsborg, I zipped north along Interstate = 135 as a red=20 sun was setting. A Kansas tornado warning interrupted a radio = concert by=20 the Berlin Philharmonic.

The next day I lunched with Kathy Malm, executive director = of the=20 Lindsborg Chamber of Commerce, at the Viking Motorcycle Co. and Fat = Bob=92s=20 BBQ downtown, where tables share space with=20 biker gear. Motorcycles in Little Sweden? =93Twenty years ago = they=92d=20 probably have run us out of town,=94 said ponytailed owner Mark = Gant, but=20 not today. There was far more to-do over the first liquor store = coming=20 to town. A group of female Harley fans regularly rides in the 21=20 miles from Salina to eat barbecue and shop.

It was with regrets that I left Lindsborg, where I=92d = felt warmly=20 welcomed, and I was well housed and certainly well fed. I continued = northeast 49 miles to Abilene, boyhood home of Dwight D. Eisenhower and home of the Eisenhower = Center. There I=20 toured the little house where the former president and his five = brothers=20 were reared. Furnishings include a shortwave radio given Mother Ida = Eisenhower by her sons so she could get news of World War II from Europe. At the visitors center, you can = buy =93I=20 Like Ike=94 buttons and, on the grounds, visit the Place of = Meditation, the=20 simple chapel where plaques mark the graves of the former President = and=20 Mamie Eisenhower and their first-born, Doud Dwight, who died of = scarlet=20 fever at age 3.

Nearby, I discovered the Dickinson County Historical Society=92s = Heritage=20 Center museum. =93Lookin=92 for a good horse?=94 asked the = attendant at the 1901=20 steam-engine carousel, which was built in Abilene by amusement park = king=20 C.W. Parker. I handed him a dollar and = chose a=20 white mount. He flipped a switch, the Wurlitzer played and around I = went,=20 all alone.

But the real treat at this complex is the Museum of Independent=20 Telephony, where displays include 19th century phones, = telephone-themed=20 sheet music (=93All alone by the telephone

Nearby, at the Greyhound Hall of Fame, I was greeted by Chig, a = retired=20 female racer from Iowa, one of three arthritic ex-competitors = living there.=20 The museum honors legends such as Rural Rube, the Man o=92 War of = greyhound=20 racing. I was puzzled to find this in Abilene, until I learned that = the=20 county is the greyhound breeding capital of the United States. = (California=20 is not among 17 states that sanction greyhound racing, although the = sport=20 was introduced to the U.S. in 1919 at=20 Emeryville, Calif.)

Abilene calls itself the =93little town of mansions.=94 One = of the most=20 imposing is the Lebold Mansion, built in 1880 by banker and land = developer=20 Conrad Lebold to persuade his Yankee bride that Abilene wasn=92t = the lawless=20 end of the Earth. I climbed to the top of its tower, where Mrs. = Lebold=20 would scan the horizon for rowdy cowboys before venturing out. = Lebold lost=20 the mansion in bankruptcy, and it later was a home for female = telephone=20 operators and an orphanage. Today its owners, Gary Yuschalk and = Larkin Mayo=20 of Victorian Interiors (formerly San Francisco-based), have turned = its=20 23 rooms into a museum that is a decorative arts showcase.

Five days in Kansas had passed quickly, and soon I was off to = Chicago. A=20 traveler who had largely ignored the Midwest =96 what could there = possibly be=20 to do in Kansas? =96 I=92d been disabused of my East Coast-West=20 Coast smugness.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Bison and greyhounds and museums, oh my!

There=92s plenty to do in rural Kansas. Visitors can visit = a farm where=20 buffalo roam, see a space center, meander through = a restored mill.

Smoky Hill Bison Co., 2660 E. Hobbs Creek = Road,=20 Assaria, Kan.; (800) 790-2665, www.bisonfarm.com. On Saturday = evenings=20 from May through October, Linda and Verne Hubalek welcome visitors=20 to their buffalo farm nine miles northeast of Lindsborg. They=20 serve buffalo burgers and take guests on a tram ride out to the = pasture to=20 view the herds.

The day I visited, Linda =96 wearing a =93University of Oz, = Home of the=20 Fighting Totos=94 T-shirt =96 led the way, summoning the herd bull, = =93Come, Bandit! Bring the girls.=94 Warily sizing = me up, the=20 herd went into circle-the-wagon mode, calves in the middle, cows=20 around them and the bull on the outside.

This land once was homesteaded by Swedish immigrants, and Linda, = who=92s=20 half Swedish and grew up nearby, has written extensively about = these=20 pioneers. It follows that she has named the buffalo cows for = pioneer women:=20 Esther, Betsy, Clara, Dolly.

=93Verne and I are part of the herd,=94 = said Linda,=20 loosening the electric fence and getting close to Dolly. There are = two=20 herds =96 the =93show and tell,=94 or = breeding herd, and=20 the all-male meat herd, 80 animals in all. The meat herd grunted = and stared=20 at us. Their fate will be to go to market. But =93the girls stay = with us,=94=20 Linda said, and can be =93adopted.=94 For $30 a month, anyone can = =93own=94 a=20 buffalo and receive e-mail photos of the adoptee.

The visitor center is free and is open daily. For the Saturday = night=20 meal and tram ride, the fee is $17 for adults and $13 for children = 5-12;=20 reservations required.

Lebold Mansion, 106 N. Vine St., Abilene, = Kan.;=20 (785) 263-4356, www.lebold-mansion.com. Open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.=20 Tuesdays through Sundays. Adults $10.

Greyhound Hall of Fame, 407 S. Buckeye, = Abilene;=20 (800) 932-7881. www.greyhoundhalloffame.com. Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.=20 daily. Free.

Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center, 1100 N. Plum=20 St., Hutchinson; (800) 397-0330, www.cosmo.org. Adult tickets, = including=20 the Imax theater and Hall of Space museum, $12.50. Senior=20 discount. Open daily.

Red Barn Studio, 212 S. Main St., = Lindsborg;=20 (785) 227-2217, www.redbarnstudio.org. The home and studio of the=20 late multimedia artist Lester Raymer is a museum run by the Raymer = Society=20 for the Arts.

The quirky Raymer created museum-quality art from castoffs =96 = fabric=20 scraps, old furniture, garage sale jewelry. Especially charming are = the=20 toys he made each Christmas for 32 years for his = wife, Ramona.

Open 1 to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Admission $5.

McPherson County Old Mill Museum, 120 Mill St., Lindsborg; (785) = 227-3595, www.oldmillmuseum.org. A $2 adult ticket includes = the 1898 Smoky=20 Valley Roller Mill, which processed flour until 1955, and = historical=20 buildings in adjacent Heritage Square. It=92s a treat to meander = through the=20 restored mill, climb the narrow steps and inch around the old = scales and=20 sifters. Open daily.

Beverly Beyette

Lindsborg, like the old country

GETTING THERE:

From LAX, Southwest and Frontier offer = nonstop=20 flights to Kansas City, Mo. American, United, Continental, = Northwest,=20 Midwest Express and Delta offer connecting flights (change of=20 planes). Restricted round-trip fares begin at $178.

To Wichita, Kan., American, United, America West and Continental = offer=20 connecting flights. Restricted round-trip fares begin at $225.

WHERE TO STAY:

Rosberg House B&B, 103 E. State St., = Lindsborg;=20 (888) 215-5234, fax (785) 227-2041, www.1885rosberghouse.com. = Lovely rooms=20 and suites in restored Queen Anne mansion. Full breakfast=20 included, stylishly served in the parlor. Rooms, some with = fireplaces, $74=20 to $169. Swimming pool.

Swedish Country Inn, 112 W. Lincoln, = Lindsborg;=20 (800) 231-0266, fax (785) 227-2795, www.swedishcountryinn.com.=20 Very Swedish, including the pine furniture. Rooms are on the small = side=20 with small baths. Swedish breakfast, included, served buffet style=20 in attractive dining room. Small gift shop with things Swedish. = Sauna.=20 Rooms begin at $59.

WHERE TO EAT:

Ol Stuga, 119 S. Main St., Lindsborg;=20 (785) 227-8762, www.olstuga.com. For local color =96 and to catch = up on local=20 news =96 belly up to the bar for a deli sandwich with choice of=20 fixings from jalapenos to sauerkraut. ($4-$5).

Brookville Hotel, 105 E. Lafayette, = Abilene;=20 (785) 263-2244, www.brookvillehotel.com. Legendary family-style=20 chicken dinners served much as they have been since 1915. For = $11.95,=20 you get sweet-sour coleslaw, fried chicken, mashed potatoes with=20 cream gravy, creamed corn, biscuits and ice cream.

Kirby House, 205 N.E. 3rd St., Abilene;=20 (785) 263-7336, www.kirbyhouse.com. Midwestern fare, including = =93our=20 famous chicken fried steak,=94 highlights the menu at this = restaurant in=20 a restored Victorian-era banker=92s mansion. Dinner=20 entrees, $10-$22.

TO LEARN MORE:

Lindsborg Chamber of Commerce, 104 E. = Lincoln, (888)=20 227-2227 or (785) 227-3706, www.Lindsborg.org.

Kansas Travel & Tourism, 1000 S.W. Jackson St., Suite 100, Topeka, KS 66612; (800) 2-KANSAS (252-6727) or (785) = 296-2009,=20 fax (785) 296-6988, www.travelks.com.

=96 Beverly Beyette

Save/Share: =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 =20

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