If you enjoy visiting the Kalona Historical Village and Mennonite Museum during the annual fall festival, Easter egg hunt, or other occasions, your support to help maintain and improve upon these local attractions is appreciated during a fundraiser being held Friday.

The Kalona Mennonite and Historical societies are hosting a drive-through soup supper at the historical village from 5-7:30 p.m. A freewill donation will be accepted, and attendees can choose to put their donation toward operating expenses for the Mennonite Museum or the historical society’s Wahl Museum project. The society kicked off a campaign this year to raise $300,000 to complete the Kalona streetscape exhibit in the new Wahl Museum that was constructed in 2017 at the village. Managing Director Nancy Roth says they’ve raised at least $75,000 for the addition of 12-15 exhibits to the building that already contains a Kalona High School room and Native American settlers and pioneer exhibits, “We are going to build as money comes in. We’ve discussed even if we have to go to the bank to borrow so we can keep moving forward. Otherwise we could sit for 10 years if we did what we’ve been doing the last six which we feel pretty good that we’ve raised what we have with our small fundraisers that we’ve done, but we just feel that it needs to get completed.”

Roth says they hope to have the streetscape exhibit completed by fall of 2023. Attendees can choose from chili, cheesy potato, and cheesy broccoli soup, with crackers, a roll, and dessert included. Attendees are asked to drive west toward the visitors center at 715 D Avenue, and servers will take your order, deliver the meal to your vehicle and collect donations.