Ballard House Magically Transfigured into Giants of the Earth Heritage Center
Giants of the Earth Heritage Center members celebrated the tranformation of the large room in the Ballard House into Giants’ Hall with a great gala dinner on Oct. 30 honoring the beloved Spring Grove genealogist Georgia Rosendahl. At $65 a plate, tickets were sold out a week in advance, showing how grateful the community is to Georgia for her work and her spirit. To see more pictures click here, or to share your own, visit our Facebook photo page and add to our album. The multiuse great hall features Spring Grove history murals created by the internationally renowned artists, Sigmund Aarseth, winner of St. Olav’s medal, and Sallie de Reus, famous for creating the Norwegian room at the Epcot center. The previous weekend, Sigmund Aarseth painted 3 paintings before a completely packed Spring Grove Cinema which he then donated to Giants of the Earth for their auction on the 30th at the dinner. The 3 paintings were sold for $3,500 each to Dan Huebner, Mike & Diane Schmidt, and Jim & Karen Gray. The buyers then generously donated them back to the Giants of the Earth Heritage Center, saying that these should stay in the town of Spring Grove, where they were painted, for all to see and enjoy.
Future work will continue to increase the ability of the Heritage Center to provide unprecedented oral history, genealogical, and relative finding services to Giants of the Earth Heritage Center members. Giants will soon be setting up a room for taping and a studio for editing our Oral Histories, which will be our senior citizens’ recollection of important events in their lives, including subjects such as farm horses, war experiences, family dynamics, humor, Christmas events, and country schools.
We anticipate the official opening of the Heritage Center for genealogical purposes to be on Wed, February 9. Either John Storlie or Georgia Rosendahl, or both, intend to be present from 10 PM to 3 PM to assist people in their genealogical research, including genetic genealogy. Please check our calendar for hours and events.