How on earth did Norsland Lefse begin? An innovative first generation Norwegian American named Merlin Hoiness saw a need for a lefse factory and was determined to make it a reality. Merlin’s father Edward had originally come to America from Norway at 16. He ended up settling in Iowa and opened a creamery. When his creamery burned in a fire, the town of Harmony, Minnesota asked Edward to open a creamery there. Edward and his six sons (including Merlin) operated a creamery into the 1950s.

In the 1960s Merlin owned and operated a grocery store in Harmony. Merlin was concerned about the future of Harmony. At the time, there was a lot of consolidation of schools and small farmers were being bought out by much larger farms.

Merlin and his partner Wilbur Peterson started another business, Harmony Enterprises, to provide jobs in Harmony. The company built portable fishing shelters and went on to manufacture pop-up campers in 1963. That company is still in business today, selling internationally.

But wait a minute - what does that have to do with Norsland Lefse?! When Merlin retired from Harmony Enterprises in 1975, he went into the grocery business again with his son Jim. At 60, Merlin was managing the Harmony grocery store. Merlin commented in an interview with a local paper, "I feel that there's a demand for lefse, especially now during its peak season. But we have been experimenting with selling it throughout the year (at the Harmony IGA) and find people are interested in having it available at any time. I think Harmony is a good testing spot as we have many folks of Scandinavian backgrounds."

Merlin first began baking lefse at an empty bakery in Harmony in 1981. He planned at first for Norsland Lefse to be a wholesale outlet, selling to local grocery stores with the possibility of expanding to restaurant sales at a later date. Soon, however, he was approached by a restaurant to supply 300 rounds of lefse each week for a weekly Scandinavian Night.

At the beginning, his employees were using only six lefse grills. Soon he ordered 16 feet of gas grills along with an automatic potato peeler, a sheeter to thin out the dough, a large mixer and a wrapping machine for the finished lefse. Initially his five employees were using 200 pounds of potatoes a day.

Merlin’s goal was to increase employment and help the community of Harmony economically. He and his partner Wilbur Peterson who formerly was an engineer at Boeing, worked to put together the first heavy duty mechanical machine to make lefse. The machine was prone to breaking down often, but increased the lefse production.

Merlin and his wife Zola promoted lefse with demonstrations and samples at schools. The J.C. Penney Co. sponsored them at the Syttende Mai celebration in Minneapolis in 1986 with Merlin’s new product, Uffda Chips, lefse cut into small pieces, deep fried and salted. Originally, the chips were made to use up lefse that had ripped in production. Soon, the chips became so popular that lefse was made just to be made into the chips.

Hoiness also developed a relationship with the Decorah Vesterheim Museum. Representative Tim Penny would order lefse to bring to an event held yearly in Washington, D.C. Legislators from all over the country were introduced to the Minnesota delicacy.

In addition to the lefse business, Merlin was an author. He wrote 91 Ways to Serve Lefse which sold over 40,000 and is still available from Norsland Lefse. Production initially consisted of getting the pages printed professionally and then Merlin and his wife would assemble the book at their dining room table. Merlin had other books published as well.

When a larger building became available in Rushford, the growing business was moved there. Jim Humble, "kind of a homegrown engineer" according to Jim Hoiness, helped Merlin improve the lefse rolling machines. Humble’s sons at that time ran a wood burning stove manufacturing business and helped in the improved lefse machine production.

When Merlin decided it was time to retire again, Norsland Lefse was purchased by his son’s company, a grocery store serving Rushford, Harmony and Preston. The lefse business was hard to operate in addition to the grocery store, so in a few years it was sold to local businessmen, Al Spande and Carrol Bakken, who operated it for a few years. When it was once again for sale, Merlin's son Jim and grandson Brad purchased Norsland Lefse to keep the business in Rushford.

A few years later Rushford local, Mark Johnson purchased Norsland Lefse from the Hoinesses and owned and operated the business for 15 or 20 years. After a flood in 2007, Norsland Lefse moved to an even larger building. Johnson added more Scandinavian merchandise to the store such as rolling pins, lefse grills, foods and novelties.

In addition, Johnson contacted Amazon and began selling Norsland Lefse products online. According to former owner Jim Hoiness, Mark shared that "sales shot through the roof" at that point!

Jim Hoiness was happy to see Norsland Lefse purchased by the current owners, Lori and David McDonald. He’d been afraid Rushford would lose the business.

According to Hoiness, his father had never made much money, but he loved what he was doing; he enjoyed the ride and was successful in starting two businesses that are still going today. Norsland Lefse was an accomplishment for Merlin Hoiness; he was successful in establishing a business that provided local employment and preserved a part of the Scandinavian culture of the area.

Check out the following pictures used with the permission of the Post Bulletin.