08.g Sister City Meeting Minutes Feb 2023Scandia Sister City Committee Minutes
Wednesday, February 22, 2023, at 7 pm
Zoom only
1. Roll Call: Lynette Walsh, Patti Ray, Lynne Moratzka, Cindy Higgins, Mike Mackiewicz, Sue
Dickens, Ann Rinkenberger, Sarah Johnson, Christine Maefsky
2. We added “Garden in Liliskogen” as item 9.
3. Minutes were approved.
4. First Anniversary Celebration: A budget of $500 was discussed for food for the anniversary
celebration on Thursday, April 20, 2023. Cindy agreed to manage the food and submit a plan
and budget on March 22, and Lynne agreed to manage the decorations. Patti will check on
flags.
Patti is working on an agenda with Mellerud similar to last year, with the mayors speaking,
choirs, and opening and closing remarks.
It was discussed if someone should be at the door handing out programs and giving a greeting in
Swedish.
Lynne will ask the Swedish teacher at Gammelgarden to teach basic Swedish phrases at the
FIKA.
Invitations to Scandia Elementary, Scandia committee members, and Scandia-Marine Lions Club
Various newspapers were mentioned to be notified of the event.
5. Trip attendees were discussed.
Events to do there were: meet with the Lions club, meet refugees, look at honey operations,
visit farming operations, meet the choir, visit the tomte museum, and tour what they would like
to highlight about their city.
Airfares were discussed, and it was decided that the group would each investigate fares and
reconvene next Monday via email to compare. It was decided that it would be best to travel as
a group because it is close to two hours from Gothenburg airport to Mellerud.
Gifts discussed were: honey, shoreline candles, Finnegans beer (with Mike’s honey), wild rice,
St. Croix chocolates (Mike will look into), painted rocks, and watercolor painting.
6. Taco Daze will be September 9, 2023 so we are looking at hosting from the 7th through the 12th.
Patti will send an invitation. Things to do discussed were: boat ride on the St. Croix, pontoon
cocktail party on Bone Lake, tour of Christine’s farm, tour of cities on Hwy. 8, kayaking, Osceola,
prairie hike, farm lunch at Watershed café, Hay Lake School.
7. Ann: 30 people are interested in a photo club. Discussion about forming a nonprofit. Carl
Wegener is refurbishing cameras and donating them to Ukrainians sheltering in Mellerud.
Mike: they have a very robust, multi-generational bee club; there is a lot of communication
taking place between the two clubs. They are also working with Ukraine which was the fourth
leading honey producer in the world.
Sarah: contacts were made with their farm contact and she would like to see their farm.
Mark: contact was made with a fishing contact, and boat fishing was the main discussion.
The closest boy scouts are in Marine and there are girl scouts and Scandia Elementary.
8. September 6 was the date chosen for the farmers market. Think about some small thing that
can be brought back from Sweden as a giveaway.
9. We are waiting to hear back from the Friends of Scandia’s parks and Trails regarding the
butterfly garden in Lilleskogen and their expectations of us should we help with it. Patti asked
them about putting in a sister city sign.
10. Next meeting is an online joint meeting with Mellerud on Wednesday, March 22, 2023.
Submitted by Cindy Higgins on February 24, 2023