5 Things That Keep a Tiny Town Going When the Going Gets Tough

These last several days, I've witnessed phenomena of nature & humanity. Geese flying north, spring thaw, thunderstorms, blizzards, and hundreds of volunteers swarming to our tiny community to help us recover from the highest floodwaters in over 100 years. More people helping than actually live here. Frankly I'm in awe!

Since I'm a list maker, I made a list. Below are 5 things that I’ve come to believe keep a tiny town going when the going's tough and keep it great when the going is great.

Eats

I hope your "tiny town" has some signature spots like ours. You should come! Might want to wait a couple weeks. But you should come!

The Danish Baker, Tom Schroeder has spent the last three decades serving his now world-renowned-pizza-by-the-pound on Thursday nights. Just one piece of this stuff is a meal, seriously! And I'm a big boy.

Also on the menu, their lesser known but equally great kolaches and cookies through the week. Aaand if you catch him when they're not too busy, Tom will grab his guitar off the wall and wail.

In addition to impromptu performances, he plays jam sessions and at community events, like the “Old School Cruise In” held last summer – predictably at the “Old Dannebrog School”. Todd & Robbie, a local couple, just couldn’t stand to see the two story building gradually disintegrate. So they purchased it, made it their primary residence and now spend their time renovating it, one room at a time. 

Whiskey River. Bar, restaurant, Halloween party & community gathering place. Recently purchased, under new management and now named "Kelly's Sport Cafe" with plans to expand hours and ensure food & fun for the whole family.

Kerry's Grocery - Multi-generational family grocery business. Groceries, deli, good food, great folks. Kerry, his wife Jerileigh and children are continuously and generously involved in every aspect and event in our tiny town.

Cactus Jacks - And then there's our good friends Cactus Jack's food trucks, multi-year winners of Best-in-show-Vendor at Nebraska State Fair and numerous other awards. They showed up yesterday to serve their phenomenal burgers at no cost to our residents and volunteers as waters receded and clean up commenced.

Dannebrog Delights - Tim Hannibal, descendant of the Hannibals who first settled this area, upon learning his heritage three years ago, pulled up stakes in California, purchased two houses and a business in Dannebrog. Tim's set up shop in the beloved "Harriet's" restaurant location. He sells numerous flavors of ice cream, cookies, goodies of all types and of course Dannebrog memorabilia, such as postcards and books written by our famous local author Roger Welsch.

Infrastructure

Village Board, Village Manager & workers - At the heart of any great community is people who care. Care enough to dedicate a significant part of their lives to make and keep it a great community. For the last three days, our Mayor, (also a nurse) Carol Schroeder's been checking on residents and giving Tetanus shots. Village Board Member Chelsea Larsen is working the Flood Relief Communications Center, while other Members are helping residents & businesses with whatever needs done. Our Village Manager, Terry Webb, also Volunteer Fire Department Chief and his son Josh, Village worker/Volunteer Firefighter, quite literally keep the village going in normal times, not to mention during natural disasters and 800-year solar eclipse events when the town is overrun with visitors. In the photo above, you see, left to right Lori hugging a resident, Chelsea logging volunteer hours for FEMA and Mayor Carol giving Tetanus shots at the Command Post (Oak Street Manner) during our ongoing flood recovery.

Volunteer Fire Department These folks are super heroes! Shown here in friendly competition with neighboring tiny town Firefighter for "braggin' rights". To car accidents, health incidents, town events, floods… oh yeah, and FIRES… these First Responders bring their A-game every day, running in where others run away!

Phone service - NCTC. (Nebraska Central Telephone Co.) When you live in a "bowl" that sort of ignores microwaves and other wireless, (and sometimes wired) communications, it's important to have links to the outside world. NCTC provides reliable land-line phone service and DSL internet. And they're based the tiny town of Gibbon, NE (also affected by the flooding).

Internet service - Prairie Hills Wireless - reliable service, great speed, family owned, based in neighboring tiny town, Ravenna, NE. And NCTC, noted above.

Utilities - Howard Greeley Rural Power brings us reliable electricity, excellent service, friendly people and is based in nearby tiny town - St. Paul, NE. Aurora Coop - provides petrol for our vehicles & farm equipment, propane for home heat & well-pumps and chemicals for the crops - based in semi-tiny town - Aurora, NE

Law Enforcement - Our local law is the Howard County Sheriff's Deputies. Neighbors, friends and good folks - they know our community, our people and they keep us safe!

Financial - Archer Community Credit Union - All the benefits of a bank, EXCEPT that fees, savings & profits return to the members instead of buying some Banker a new Cadillac. Nothing against Bankers or Caddies; I'd just rather keep it in the "family" if you know what I mean. Incidentally ACCU also started in, and still serves a (micro) tiny-town of Archer, as well as Dannebrog and semi-tiny-town Central City.

Churches

Dannebrog sports some of the best attended Baptist, Lutheran & non-denominational churches of any town its size. In my opinion faithful people make reliable, trustworthy, caring neighbors.

CDR (Christian Disaster Response) - Never heard of this outfit until two days ago. Then I watched them work yesterday…WOW! I saw the same team at three different locations within just a few hours. Like a military unit, they're in, set up, do their thing, and they're out. Everyone knows their job and each one excels at it! I can only wish that back when I managed disaster recovery projects, our fire & flood restoration teams had been this machine-like . So I looked them up -- seems they are worldwide responders to all sorts of disasters, earthquakes, tsunamis, and provide other aid as well. This particular unit came to our aid from nearby Nebraska tiny town of Scotia. I read on their site https://cdresponse.org/ this morning that they have an opportunity to purchase 100,000 children's vitamins for a fraction of what they'd normally cost. These are for children in Haiti that CDR has for two years been working to feed, with the help of many donors. They have about half of the funds they need to make the vitamin purchase. So, if you're inclined to help, please follow the link here and you'll find the story. The minimum donation is $1! I'm not affiliated but I've seen what this organization did yesterday in my own community, and I’m convinced they’re legit and worth supporting.

Community

A strong Boosters organization - Our historic buildings, traditions, customs, even connections to the "old country" are only preserved when people demonstrate their interest through their actions. Dannebrog's history, traditions, customs and heritage have survived only through the actions of real people. Real people like Roger & Edie Grim, Glen & Phyllis Minne, Harriet Nielsen, Ray & Shirley Johnson, Connie Jacobson, Hans & Sandy Christiansen, Pat & Kathy Connelly, Tom & Carol Schroeder, Tim Hannibal, Lori and Chelsea Larsen…and so many others (I'm sorry for the many I can’t name here). Historic buildings have been restored with funds from several of the above real peoples' savings.

Communications Networks - Our tiny town, unlike most, has a thriving social media presence, with a Facebook page @Dannebrogne, a community on Nextdoor.com (your tiny town needs this for realz!) Nextdoor is a private social network ONLY for your community. People can post lost dogs, items for sale, questions, disaster information. Hello? Over the past several years Lori Larsen & Chelsea Larsen have assembled an effective network for connecting community members with current events and important information. This network has proven invaluable as a clearing house of information and help to our community in this week of flooding! When normal systems are interrupted, citizens can usually still access data networks via their mobile phones. When they are already utilizing the Facebook and Nextdoor sites, it makes spreading crucial and urgent information to residents not just possible, but infinitely easier. In this difficult week, we’ve spoken with other communities, even first responders who are simply at a loss for how to disseminate critical updates to their residents. Check out www.nextdoor.com.

Newspaper - The Stjernen is our local monthly newspaper, edited in years past by Shirley Johnson, then Laurel Christiansen, now converted to digital format and edited by Chelsea Larsen & Lori Larsen, this newspaper is published in both paper and digital format. Monthly contributor Chelsea Larsen and others bring current and historic events to life through colorful stories and blasts from the past.

People (famous and in-famous) and Groups - Dannebrog Boosters continuously build the community, preserve history, raise funds for these purposes and promote our Danish & Pawnee heritage through affiliations with current residents of Denmark, like Peter Fyllgraf, Danish Brotherhood/Sisterhood, and affiliations with the Pawnee Nation.

One not-famous-but-should-be, person, whom I came to know and consider a great friend, through Dannebrog events is Marshall Gover, Native American Artist, Silversmith and former President of the Pawnee Nation of twelve tribes. I sat next to Marshall at the total solar eclipse outside Dannebrog last summer and enjoyed his philosophical view on it. Sitting next to Marshall during this natural phenomenon turned out to be quite profound for me. I just sensed a sort of spiritual experience as it happened and then enjoyed discussing it with him afterward. He described the lore he’s heard regarding one near-total eclipse event that his people experienced about a century ago. His people fell to the ground on their faces, believing the gods were angry with them and were letting them know with this profound natural event. It was quite profound visiting with Marshall during this time. I have since purchased a letter opener that Marshall crafted from silver and turquoise. Every day that I sit at my desk and open letters using the Marshall Grover hand crafted letter opener, I think of my friend whom I recently learned has late stage cancer. I wish for Marshall and his wife Jacque, all the blessings and love that we’ve experienced here in Dannebrog over the past several days!

Roger Welsch, author, folklorist, humorist, star of CBS News Sunday Morning and Pawnee enthusiast/advocate.

Pictured here autographing books at his beloved Pawnee Center operated by the Pawnee and stocked with authentic Native American art and artifacts. Roger and his wife Linda, prominent Nebraska artist, are so strongly tied to the Pawnee & all Native Americans, they deeded land from their 60-acre farm along the banks of the Loup river back to the Pawnee people a decade ago.

Legion Club – Frequented, not surprisingly by numerous local veterans and well known for Marna Porath’s Sunday buffet.

Heritage Centers

Columbia Hall today houses considerable Danish and Dannebrog village memorabilia and is used for gatherings like the Danish Brotherhood/Sisterhood, certain church groups, etc. This building was subjected to an explosion some years ago and was restored through personal funding by several Booster members noted earlier.

Pawnee Center – a former Dannebrog storefront was donated, as noted above by Roger & Linda Welsch for use as a museum/Pawnee crafts retail location. The center is typically open on Thursday nights corresponding with the Danish Bakers pizza night.

A Flag

"Do you have a flag?" (Eddie Izzard fans, you may cheer and laugh hysterically now! Not a fan? YouTube it right now, you won't be sorry!) But, I digress. Dannebrog, the name of our tiny town literally means flag of Denmark. So yes, we "have a flag". We Danes (not me personally but you get the idea) settled here amongst the friendly Pawnee, without whom we quite literally would not have survived the first few winters here! Quite a story actually - check out @dannebrogne on Facebook, or the Stjernen, our monthly newsletter, for more on that.

My sincere hope is that many others will experience (or can build) the kind of tiny-town-tuff community I call home, Dannebrog, Nebraska – population: 352.