Lindsborg , KS : Wow, there are horses everywhere, and I’m not even on a ranch!
I am in north central Kansas in a little town called Lindsborg (aka Little Sweden USA), and the ones I keep spotting are wooden Dala horses with pointed ears, symbolic of the community’s Swedish heritage.
In 1869 some 90-odd immigrants left Sweden to seek “framtidslandet” (land of the future) in America . They settled in the Smoky Valley region and more than a century and half later the population hovers around 3,200 and Lindsborg has become a haven for handcrafted items, especially Dala horses.
Custom designed Dala horses bearing the household surname, welcome/valkommen or come again/komigen are hung on or near the front door of homes to greet visitors. The town has also adopted the Swedish symbol as their own, proudly displaying custom-decorated Dala horses outside their shops and offices.
There is a funny streak to these Swedish-inspired creations too. How about Fala the Dala Brick Road, Salvador Dala, Yankee Doodle Dala, Dancer Dala, Lucky Dala, Holi Dala and Ambassadala? Altogether 28 of these four-foot-high icons are around town and they are so popular they even appear on a souvenir poster.
Many of the wooden masterpieces are created and sold at hemslöjd (Swedish for “handicraft”), a gift store opened in 1983 by two neighbors, both named Ken. Mr. Sjogren has since retired, and it is now owned by Mr. Swisher.
The name “Dala” is derived from the province of Dalarna in Sweden where lumberjacks would spend their evenings whittling bits of wood into toy horses for the children. The horses were stained with paint pigment from the copper mines and soon it was traditional to paint bright flower patterns on the saddles of the “red” horses.
At the hemslöjd workshop Marc Anderson cuts several horse shapes from an 18-foot sheet of sugar pine (the number vary according to size.) He individually sands them and then dips them into a combination of reddish-orange paint, using a pulley-type contraption he actually rigged up to do the job (and with no official name, I am tempted to call it the “Dala dipper.”) Although this is the most traditional and popular color for the horses, they can be ordered in any color.
Three coats of paint are applied and each coat dries in about 20 minutest. It takes Shirley Malm about 10 to 15 minutes to decorate the saddle on a small horse with the traditional colored flowers. These designs are hand painted with water based acrylics, which are then sealed with polyurethane weather protectant before the horses are hung out to dry.
“Folk art forms start with how people want to beautify their surroundings,” says Malm.
“I guess we’re talking centuries ago, but it’s been a real big historical tool for the Swedish culture because a lot of this type of folk art is things that they found on walls, on cupboards and on every day accoutrements (and a lot of times they always had names and dates on there so they could verify them.)”
Malm sits at a relatively small table, painting effortlessly as she describes the art she has practiced for 31 years. “Swedish folk art is real satisfying, for one thing there are very few of us in the United States ,” she says. “I didn’t set out to be one of a few, but I have found there are very few sources for real Swedish folk art.”
Married to a fifth generation Swedish-American whose grandfather was a Swedish minister and one of the founding fathers in the valley, Malm admits she had no knowledge of Swedish folk art up until the time she dropped out of Bethany College, got married and raised her children.
After repeated requests for Swedish folk art, the budding artist signed up for a college course and opened up her own studio. Now she is content to work part-time at hemsl ö jd. “It’s more than fun, it’s my passion, it’s what I am,” she says. “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t painting or drawing and this is just another progression in my life….. I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend the last years of life than doing what I love.”
Lindsborg is a great weekend getaway and The Swedish Country Inn is the perfect place to stay. I loved throwing open the windows and looking outside as the fresh air rushed past me and circulated in the room. With hand-painted cupboards, folk art on the walls and a redwood sauna beckoning, it’s not that easy to leave. Best of all, a taste of Sweden at breakfast includes traditional specialties such as Swedish meatballs, waffles with lingonberry syrup, Swedish tea rings, pickled herring and knackebrod.
A leisurely stroll along North Main Street is enough to make every small town shopper’s dream come true. Step into the quaint shops and you just might walk away with an unexpected gift or treasure for yourself, and some also have small cafes.
The Courtyard Gallery features the works of extraordinary artists mostly from Kansas , who sculpt in porcelain, create three-dimensional pottery or carve wooden American waterfowl decoys. Talents in a variety of genre showcase works by a glassblower, a realist painter, a silversmith and jewelry designer, a glass artist, and you get the picture, just about any creative medium you can think about. There is even a bakery and café where visitors sit under a skylight to enjoy freshly made Scandinavian style sandwiches, soup, bread and pastries.
For a bird-eye’s view of Lindsborg hike or drive to the crest of Coronado Heights where the remains of a “Spanish fortress” stands. In fact Lindsborg’s lookout point is no more than a construction remnant from President Rooseveldt’s inspired Works Projects Administration in 1935. As to the theory that the Spanish explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado and his men might have landed there in 1541, who knows? But you can actually climb up to an observation tower for a panoramic view of the valley and countryside.
At the Old Mill Museum and Heritage Square visitors can tour the Smoky Valley Roller Mill which is a restored 1898 flour mill that is still in working order. Buildings at the square include the Swedish pavilion built for the 1904 World’s Fair.