Dutch Millers Spend Time in Fulton Fulton 

 Dutch millers, Andre Koopal and Christiaan Smit arrived in Fulton on July 25 for a two week work/visit with Fulton's volunteer millers and Friends of the Windmill. Koopal and Smit will conduct training sessions with Fulton's volunteer millers, work with junior millers, participate in round table brainstorming with local educators, and discuss volunteerism at Zaanse Schans, an open air museum.

            Christiaan is an elementary school teacher in the Netherlands who also conducts junior miller workshops.  Children from ages 9-14 meet weekly with him using hands-on construction activities connected to milling.  Christiaan is also a volunteer miller at Het Pink, an oil mill, near the Zaan river.  Andre is a Unix system administrator for a large telecom company and a volunteer at Het Pink and with TIMS, the International Molinological Society.

            Midwestern cultural activities have been planned for the Dutch visitors and include a pontoon ride on the Mississippi, the river museum in Dubuque, the mills in Elmhurst, Batavia, and Pella, a Lumber Kings ball game in Clinton, and a final weekend in Chicago.

            The Dutch millers will greet visitors with the Fulton millers at de Immigrant mornings July 27, 28, & 29 and afternoons July 31, August 1, & 4-6.  Their flights were sponsored by Friends of the Windmill and Fulton's Volunteer Millers. They are houseguests for the two weeks at the home of a Fulton volunteer miller.