​Final reminder:  This Friday, Sept. 1, is the deadline for Lindsborg Community Hospital to receive your organization's/business's 40 promotional items (40 only, pls) for inclusion in the popular new resident bags distributed at City Hall to new utility customers. Drop off your items in care of Betty Nelson or Cynthia Woodard.

Scheduling note:  No Ad Hoc Roundtable gathering next Monday, Sept. 4, which is Labor Day.  We'll resume on Monday, Sept. 11. 

Lost and found: Found prescription sunglasses and a black case in the last few weeks? Visitor Laura Klocke is looking for them. Contact k-l-o-c-k-e@att.net.
* * * 
•  We heard this morning about a new Bethany College community service day planned for Tuesday, Oct. 31. This event will honor the 500th anniversary of day it is believed that theologian Martin Luther nailed a copy of his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg Church. Bethany College Dean of Student Development Ryan Van Dusen and new assistant dean Caitlin Rethorst were on hand to describe the day's concept and gather preliminary ideas. Because the service day also coincides with Halloween, ideas immediately emerged on how students might become involved in community Halloween events.  We cited several other possible situations in which students could truly work alongside local folks of all ages. The potential community gold in these efforts are in human connections and memories made, not just in weeds pulled or trash removed. It's so true: meaningful conversations can take place while two people are doing a routine task -- say,  dishwashing, raking, baking, making, driving. That's the goal: connections made while routine jobs also get done. If you have ideas, contact Ryan and Caitlin at Bethany Student Development.
• The browse-ability of commercial front windows has significantly improved over the last few years, visitors and residents alike tell us.  Do you need window design help this coming fall/holiday season? Please contact Trollslanda Toy Store owner Deb Briggs. Deb will try to find artists, designers, students and others to bring you fresh ideas and installation help.  
•  Effort continues on establishing an umbrella-style 501(c)3 non-profit organization to create deductibility and tracking for each of our Lindsborg Live! donations. This umbrella-style non-profit is to be called Lindsborg At Work. It will allow multiple community organizations to accept donations under one non-profit umbrella. The Ad Hoc "Lindsborg Live!" account will be the first under this umbrella. David Hay of First Bank Kansas has been working on this for several months now, in collaboration with local attorney Susan Whitfield Harding, who has kindly donated professional service hours to the detailed application process. We thank you both. We shall keep you informed when Lindsborg At Work's application is accepted by the IRS.  Thankfully, little should change in our current day-to-day handling of donations and our "no memberships required" approach. 
•  Looking ahead to November and December, here are the volunteers beginning to organize and/ or communicate with others about key Ad Hoc weekends:

Sat. Nov. 11   Lindsborg Holiday Open House
Liz Lahodny, Molly Johnson, Erica Kruckenberg

Sat. Nov. 25    Small Business Saturday
Debbie Jacobson, Tara Killingsworth, Brian Johnson 

Sat. Dec. 2 Snowflake Parade/Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest
Carla Wilson, Liz Lahodny, Kimi Stolzenberg, Mike Dreier

Sat. Dec. 9  Lucia Festival and Freeze Your Brass Off
Mari Loder, Kathy Richardson, Mike Dreier

Sat. Dec. 16  Cookies with Mrs. Claus
David Hay, Meg Gallucci

Sat. Dec. 23  No special events currently planned

​As we become more successful, college and community together, it will be tempting to be at our workplaces more and cut walking around and social time. That would be not only a shame, but a step back. Good energy, ideas and trust start with acquaintance. And acquaintance must start well before the next big projects or hard decisions.  
     That's why Ad Hoc Roundtable now offers Ad Hops, the every-fourth Wednesday hour of refreshment for anyone and everyone who wants to connect. (Hat tip to Mike Dreier for the name.) From 5:45 to 6:45 p.m., we'll have a regular social crossroads at the Ol Stuga for the next 12 months. Beverage of your choice in hand, we ask you to hang out, pop in, and see what's up. The first Ad Hops will be Wednesday, Sept. 27.
• • •
•     Speaking of acquaintances, we're looking to connect with Bethany faculty and staff, especially the 22 new members on campus. Erica Kruckenberg of the BC Advancement Office has kindly offered to make one-on-one connections for us. Thanks, Ms. E!  Buy coffee for one of these folks. Just pop into their office for a quick hello. Send notes of welcome.  We also hope to have in September an Ad Hoc welcome reception for faculty and staff, just as we have in past years.
•     We're starting to build November and December events, including Lindsborg Holiday Open House on Saturday, Nov. 11, and Shop Small Saturday on Saturday, Nov 25.  December is filled with your favorites, as always -- especially Lucia Festival.  Watch the Facebook page "Christmas in Lindsborg" for details as we establish details and schedules.
•     Another social opportunity:  Mahjong Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. at the Lindsborg Safety Center!  Stone-cold beginners needed -- and welcomed!  Supplies provided. Mahjong is a tile-based game that originated in China during the Qing dynasty. It is commonly played by four players. Questions?  See Robin Droegermeier, who took the retiring Kathy Peterson's position  at the front desk at City Hall.  Thanks, Robin!

Reminders:

Sat Aug 26 "Bethany Arises... Lindsborg Dances"
Free Street Dance by the Lindsborg Business Community & BBQ Competition/Frisbee Feed by Smoky Valley After-Prom Committee.  From 6 to 8 p.m. performance on the Main Street stage by singer/songwriter Sam Unruh. Also at 6 p.m. buy pulled pork, beans, chips and a drink for $7. From 8-11 p.m. King Midas and the Muflers.

Now 'til Sept 1:  Drop off 40 promotional items to Betty Nelson or Cynthia Woodard at Lindsborg Community Hospital. Volunteers will stuff this material in popular new resident bags distributed at City Hall. Thanks, Betty, Cynthia, City Hall staff, and volunteer stuffers!

​•  Please drop 40 (and 40 only) of your organization’s promotional items at Lindsborg Community Hospital as soon as possible. Place them to the attention of Betty Nelson or Cynthia Woodard. The items are for new resident welcome bags, which are kindly distributed by City Hall when people new to the community open utility accounts. LCH hosts the bag stuffing parties. We all win. Deadline to receive your items:  Friday, Sept. 1. Please don’t make us beg, y'all. Thanks so much.
      •  An easy, fun way to connect with Bethany College’s new energy?  Be a host family for a football player. See life through the eyes of a young man and cheer him on to good things….  and get a good reason to cheer from the stands at Swede home games. Host families do simple stuff -- invitations to dinner, notes of encouragement and so forth.  Questions? Contact Erica Kruckenberg at the college, kruckenberges@bethanylb.edu.
      •  Lindsborg has recycled 94.57 tons of single-stream materials so far in 2017.  That’s more than four tons more than 2016 at this time. If you have questions about improving recycling rates in your home or business, contact the McPherson County Solid Waste Utility for tips.  Details here:  http://www.maswu.org/recycling.html 
      •  More property tax comparisons, as some have requested….  Among eight incorporated cities in McPherson County, Lindsborg has the second lowest municipal levy and lowest total mill levy.  Range of total mill levies:  Lindsborg at 121.427 mills to Inman’s 164.636 mills.  The mill levy is the tax rate applied to the *assessed* value of a property.  One mill represents $1 per $1,000 of assessed value.
      •  At Ad Hoc gatherings, we often talk about the importance of websites — mobile friendliness, ease of on-line purchasing and contact options, and the fact that even the most humble business needs an online presence, even if its website is more billboard than interactive.  Take a moment, if you have it, to see how historic redeveloper Jim Prugh has repackaged his vacation rental properties into one website, http://www.lindsborgvacationrentals.com.  Notice how the website promotes other businesses and Bethany College, as well as local events. Inquires also are made easy.
     •  Notes from the land of on-line shopping that will change our world. (We read this article as encouraging for the unusual and highly personalized retail experience.)  Hat tip to Holly Lofton of the Lindsborg CVB.

BERKELEY, Calif (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is rolling out U.S. pickup points where shoppers can retrieve items immediately after ordering them, shortening delivery times from hours to minutes in its latest move into brick-and-mortar retail. The world’s largest online retail has launched “Instant Pickup” points around five college campuses such as the University of California at Berkeley, it said on Tuesday.  Amazon plans to add the program to more sites by the end of the year.  Shoppers on Amazon’s mobile app can select from hundreds of fast-selling items at each location, from snacks and drinks to phone chargers.  Amazon employees in a back room then load orders into lockers within two minutes and customers receive bar codes to access them.

More here:  https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-pickup-idUSKCN1AV1EF

​One of the Ad Hoc Roundtable’s traveling cans of elbow grease has landed in the deserving hands of Duane Fredrickson, M.D.  The award was passed to Dr. Fredrickson at the recent Bethany Home ice cream social by previous recipient Mim Carlson and the team that organized Lindsborg’s 2017 Midsummer’s Festival. It is difficult to overstate the role of Dr. Fredrickson in the Smoky Valley — tireless family physician, key organizer of Lindsborg Folkdanslag, hard-working clean-up volunteer on Coronado Heights every Monday for decades, and so much more.  Thanks, Mim, for creating this opportunity to celebrate one of Lindsborg’s most devoted, good-hearted and loyal citizens. Cheers to you, Doc!


       
      A lot of what Ad Hoc is about is making Lindsborg a good place for young families. So please encourage customers and friends to bring chairs and blankets to the City parking lot on the 100 block of South Main for the free Friday night outdoor "Movie on Main" sponsored by Lindsborg Community Hospital.  "Sing," a lovable 2016 family favorite, will be showing starting around 8:30 p.m. It's a hoot for young and old. Thanks, LCH!
      Now is the time to check out the new Svensk Hyllningsfest web page. Go here:  http://www.svenskhyllningsfest.org.  Please be reminded of the work we do together and as individuals to create this signature biennial celebration of Smoky Valley heritage. Although thousands of our closest friends and neighbors come to enjoy Svensk Hyllningsfest with us, the reason we create Hyllningsfest memories is ourselves and our children. We warmly thank the volunteer committee organizing this event. Co-chaired by John Hawk and Eric Lundstrom, the committee has already labored for more than 18 months to reinvent and expand Hyllningsfest’s cultural and family offerings as well as its footprint in the downtown area.  Another big thanks goes to the City of Lindsborg, which bears a big load before and during Hyllningsfest. City employees add to their already-full portfolios. They have key planning and execution roles for the festival, from re-routing traffic and emergency vehicles, providing electrical services, painting streets and sprucing, moving bleachers, and numerous details that many of us may take for granted.  
      Here, in no particular order, are Hyllningsfest specifics we discussed Monday morning:
      •    There has been discussion elsewhere of a preview for area residents who are busy during the festival. Exhibits, displays and special offerings in local stores could be organized for the Sunday afternoon prior.   If anyone would like to lead the charge on this, send up a flare, please.
       •       Reminding everyone of Hyllningsfest float preparations…  Some groups are off to a fast start; others not so much.  Time to get heads together if you haven’t already.
       •       It’s also time to paint up, fix up clean up and plant up the community.  Plan now.
       •      Hyllningsfest Committee is looking for someone who would like to spearhead a farmers market for the festival — anything from gourds and pumpkins, mums, needlework, baked goods and other appropriate items.  Space in the J.O. Sundstrom’s second floor already is full.
       •       Here’s a reminder that the City grants a blanket sidewalk use license in the downtown area to the Hyllningsfest Committeee for festival days. Because of the number of people in town, it’s a safety issue to have displays and vending on downtown sidewalks during that time.  If in question, contact City Hall or the committee.
       •      The festival committee will again sell support buttons to help underwrite the festival.  Also again, support buttons will be sold in local stores for advance purchase. New this year:  several strategically located and festively decorated “entryways” into the downtown area where support buttons will be sold on festival days. While the public may enter the downtown area without purchasing support buttons, the Hyllningsfest Committee hopes that the “entryways" will lend emphasis to the need to participate financially in the cost of everything from portable toilets to abundant free entertainment.  The festival programs also will be available at the entryways.
       •      A new entertainment tent will be situated in the parking lot of Bank of Tescott this year, and food vendors will push their territory on E. Lincoln a bit east.  
       •      Speaking of entertainment, there is bounty again this year, especially for families:  the US dulcimer champ, local hero Brandon Draper, the spoon man, a puppet show from a Kansas City troupe, the Kansas-based Poke Salad Orchestra, expanded instrumental music at Bethany Church on Saturday, the return of the Smoky Valley Men’s Chorus on Friday evening, the big singalong dinner called “Spectacle at the Sundstrom” and so much more.  Performances run from morning to after dinner.

​Lindsborg is an attractive place to live and work, in part, because of the good value found in its local government services and public schools' education.
      Of 111 Kansas cities of second class, the City of Lindsborg ranks 36th lowest in its *municipal* property tax levy.  The *overall* property tax levy in Lindsborg compares even better among the same group.
       It's a tough act, always. Maintaining infrastructure and spinning up the Lindsborg of the future. Keeping in view what the community wants and also recognizing needs and opportunities not as often considered. Tradeoffs everywhere.
      As always, your interest and involvement is important to keeping that balance as well as the livability of our town. Please stay in touch with local, state and federal government issues.
• • • 
      We spent a good deal of time at Monday's gathering discussing a piece of reporting about how Airbnb, the on-line accommodations rental site, has also become a platform for offering experiences not related to accommodations. It includes everything from specialized meals and custom tours to learning sessions with the chance to participate. We at Ad Hoc concluded that this indicates new ways for Lindsborg to present/repackage what makes our community engaging to residents and visitors alike.  Read here and reflect pls: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/26/opinion/airbnb-experiences-machines-jobs.html?_r=0
     As The Salina Journal solicits for advertising for this fall's Explore Lindsborg special section, please be aware of new fees for ad and other design services.
      The blood flow of Lindsborg already has become faster; Bethany College students are returning to campus -- more students and more *local* students.  Also, K-12 students will be on the streets and sidewalks in the coming days. Keep an eye out, would you, please? 
      Wild and stray cats are causing health and odor concerns, particularly in the downtown area. There is a balance between acting with compassion for animals and encouraging fast-reproducing cat colonies that risk animal and human health, as well as hurt birds and other animals. Please feed pets inside. Please vaccinate, tag, spay and neuter.
     This Friday, Aug. 11, please drop by Lindsborg Makers Street, the 2nd Friday art experience. It's all about pie this month, folks.  Gonna wanna be there.
       Next week, another family summer treat: Movie on Main sponsored by Lindsborg Community Hospital at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Aug 18.  Featured movie: "Sing."  Bring blanket and chairs to the City parking on the 100 block of South Main.  No admission charge.
     The week after, save time for this year's back-to-school street dance tagged "Bethany College Arises...  Lindsborg Dances."  That's Saturday, Aug. 26, 8 to 11 p.m. featuring King Midas and the Muflers.  From 6 to 8 p.m. hear singer/guitarist Sam Unruh -- and gets a BBQ sandwich from the Smoky Valley After Prom Committee starting around 5:30 p.m.  -- 'till supplies last.