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Hanska celebrates 125 years

By Clay Schuldt 6 min read

HANSKA - The town of Hanska celebrated its 125th birthday over the weekend with fireworks, music, a parade, historic tours and plenty of lutefisk.

The birthday celebration began Friday night with with a classic-car cruise-in, kids activities, music and the grand opening of Hanska Historical Society's first museum exhibit.

The museum exhibit, located in the Hanska Community Center remained open throughout the weekend allowing the public get a first look at what will eventually become a permanent exhibit.

The Hanska Historical Society (HHS) officially formed this year. HHS member Larry Harbo said the idea for a historical society came out of a history driving tour organized last year. The driving tour went to several historical sites around the Hanska community, including the Torgimson Log Cabin, Lake Hanska Lutheran Church, District 31 Schoolhouse, Norwegian Stabbur, Zion Lutheran Church, Nora Unitarian Church, Jorgenson Cabin Museum and Linden Lutheran Church.

This same history tour was held again Sunday afternoon, but this time the Hanska Community Center served as a stop.

The majority of the stops on the tour were church sites, several of which are older than the town of Hanska.

Linden Lutheran Church was originally founded to serve settlers in Butternut Township, Madelia and Lake Hanska Township. A

Harbo served as historic guide at the Linden Church. He explained the cemetery predated the church building. The Linden Cemetery was established in 1868 and the church followed in 1869.

Today, Linden Church is surrounded by a cornfield, but when it was first constructed it was built on the shore of a shallow creek that had dried up by the early 1900s.

The Linden Lutheran Church continued to serve parishioners until 2010, until the church board voted to close. The building is still managed by the Friends of Linden Lutheran Church Association. Members of the association may request use of the church for special events.

Nora Unitarian Church is in a similar situation as the Linden Church. Nora church board member Nita Gilbert said the board recently voted to being researching the process for closing the church due declining membership.

Gilbert said the board has no plans to sell the building, but would like to make it available for other entities to use.

Zion Lutheran Church located in Hanska City limits was the only church on the tour that began after the town founded.

Church member Darlene Nelson said Zion Lutheran officially started in 1903, with the church building constructed in 1905. The first service was on Christmas Day 1905. Today, church membership is around 100.

Lake Hanska Lutheran Church was established in 1869. Church member Bonnie Lilleodden said the first church services were held under a basswood tree during good weather. When the weather was poor, the congregation met in a house. Eventually, the congregation became too big and needed a building.

The first building built was relatively small and served as a church, community center and schoolhouse. After a larger church was built across the street, the original building continued to serve as a one room schoolhouse for District 31. The school closed after the country schools consolidated, but the building is still maintained by the church.

Lilleodden said after 157 years the church is still hold services day and has merged with Faith Madelia.

Back at the community center, hundreds of artifacts donated to the HHS were on display, that documented the history of Hanska.

The idea was to kickstart development of a HHS museum. The community center would only be a temporary location. Caution tape was placed around the community center with a sign reading "Hanska Historical Society: under construction."

The HHS were impressed with the turnout for the exhibit from the weekend. Harbo said the exhibit was divided into four sections: community, home and family, military and Norwegian artifacts.

Harbo said the most popular part of the exhibit was the collection of old Hanska Heralds. A circle of tables held books with nearly every edition of the Hanska Herald from 1904-2025.

Harbo said it was interesting to read the old papers. Some of the old advertisements were interesting and help identify which businesses were operating in the community.

In addition to the historical displays, the community center hosted a special all-school reunion Saturday. Any person who attended school in Hanska – including the country schools – were welcome to attend. The last year before the school closed was 1968.

Around 75 Hanska High School alumni attended the reunion. The oldest attended was Carol Mikkelson who graduated from country school in 1947.

A few blocks south of the community center, Hanska City Park hosted craft vendors and food trucks. Under the big tent, the crowd was entertained by series of different musicians.

Around 2 p.m. a different type of entertainment took the performance stage. A special lutefisk eating contest was held. The goal of the contest was to be the first to eat a pound of lutefisk.

Lutefisk is a traditional Scandinavian fish made from preserved fish that is sometimes soaked in lye. The fish often takes an a gelatinous state. For many, lutefisk is an acquired taste.

There was no pre-registry for the contest, but volunteers from the crowd were asked to participate.

Seven brave individuals agreed to participate in the contest, including Hanska Mayor Dan Paulson.

In the end, Mark Blekestad of Madelia won the contest. He managed to finish his pound of lutefisk in around two minutes and 30 seconds.

Blekestad said he had lot of practice eating lutefisk. He had competed in a similar contests. Back in November, Blekestad tied for first place in the Madison, Minnesota lutefisk eating contest. He and two others managed to consume 11-pounds of lutefisk setting a new record for that community.

Blekestad said had a special advantage in that he enjoys eating lutefisk.

He was not the only one to participate who enjoyed lutefisk.

Barb Hargen said she thought lutefisk was delicious, but admitted she could never eat that much of it, that fast.

Hargen's granddaughter Lydie Goblirsch agreed to compete in the contest as well, even though she never had never tried lutefisk before.

"It's not that bad," Goblirsch said. "It's not the best, but I think it's bad reputation is exaggerated."

Saturday's festivities continued with a Grand Parade through downtown featuring representatives from every area fire department. The parade was followed by a street dance featuring a performance from Schell's Angels. A special fireworks display capped off Saturday's celebration.

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