05/16/2025
We are so excited to give free pony rides at the Florence Mill on June 15th! 🐴🤗
How’s the Mill in 2025?
Dear Friends, I’ve not had time to write or mail the usual Spring newsletter. Thus this late notice that the Florence Mill opens this Saturday, May 17.
Sadly, my beautiful daughter, Kit, passed away in Arizona on April 27, leaving a 7-yr-old daughter. It is another season of grief for me personally. But the Winter Quarters Mill Museum and Sunday Market will go on, perhaps with an occasional Mill-Lady substitute. The Mill and I are grateful to be surrounded by many who care.
2025 Summer Schedule
*This Saturday, May 17 @ 3:30!
“Winter Quarters: Trials & Tales”
Was Winter Quarters a temporary death-ridden layover on the way west? Was it an important respite in the wilderness? Learn about Winter Quarters from Thad Call, a historian whose family lived this history.
*First Market: Sunday, June 1, 10am-3pm: We gather in a field full of friendly vendors that grow or create! June 1 activities… MUSICIANS: Jerome Brich,am & Bill Sammon,pm… FOOD TRUCKS; Zmogs Mexican Foods, Alafia’s Gluten-Free Grill & New Orleans Sneaux…COUNTRY SCHOOL: Critter close-up-encounter is a Scottish Highlander mama and her calf… the only species in the bovine ilk that looks like Chewbacca!
Join us every Sunday, 10-3 to meet a different critter… plus live Music…a variety of Food Trucks…Massage & Last-Sunday kid-crafts + story-time.
June 15: Free Pony-Rides! Plus pop-up surprises. Rain or shine it’s market-fun through September 28.
*Thursday August 7, 6:30 pm:
Katherine Hamilton-Smith presents “The Happy Invention: History & Significance of Picture Postcards” Katherine shares an Art & History program she created for the Newberry Library in Chicago. Omaha is blessed to have her now living here & care about OUR history!
*Saturday September 13, 3:30 pm:
Nebraska’s New State Poet, Jewel Rogers, joins us for Poetry in the Mill. Her reading will wake you up to how lively and fun poetry can be!
*Saturday, October 4 (9am to 7pm) & Sunday, October 5 (9am to 5pm).
North Hills Pottery Tour: Wonderful ceramic artistry fills the mill at this annual artsy event. The Florence Mill is the southern anchor as its trail of creative sites meanders North to Ponca Hills and Fort Calhoun.
October 7: the Mill goes into an annual Winter Hibernation. Why?
There’s no heat. Water is turned off. Few visitors and I don’t shovel.
The Florence Mill: Connecting Agriculture, History & Art.
Thank you for reading the 2025 update about this unique mill with Pioneer origins. You are invited to be a Friend of the Mill:
________$25 Individual/Family
________$50 Millwright
________$100 Business & Donor
________$Additional Gift of Choice
Winter Quarters/Florence Mill Inc is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations go towards the development of educational exhibits, event, repairs & sustenance of Florence Mill. Thank you for caring. Linda Meigs, Volunteer Mill-Lady, Founder, Director, Dreamer & Janitor
The Florence Mill
Located @ 9102 N 30 St.
Omaha NE 68112
(Next to I-680 & the Mormon Bridge)
402-551-1233
Thanks to Jeff Barnes for a great photo of the Florence Mill!
