St. David's Society of MN: MGGA -- History

Board of Directors

Marian Alinder, LeSueur; Membership Chair Steve Alinder, LeSueur; Treasurer Helen Balcome, Lake Crystal; Norma Bergquist, Mankato; Viva Bowen, New Ulm; Lois Davis, Lake Crystal; Mary Deopere, Madelia; Judy Douglas, St. Peter; Janice Fredericksen, Lake Crystal; Historian Shirley Grundmeier, Mankato; Pam Harbo, Lake Crystal; Publicity Chair Ellis Jones, St. Peter; Ryan Jones, St. Peter; LaVola Lewis, Lake Crystal; President Marcia Richards, Mankato; Ardis Roberts, Inver Grove Heights; Mary Jane Rosenberg, Lake Crystal; Janet Schickling, Mankato; Barbara Spencer, Lake Crystal; Vice President Robert Williams, Vernon Center; Secretary Karen
Wojahn, Windom; Janet E. Zehnder, Albert Lea.

MGGA

History

Beginning in the 1850s, a large number of immigrants from Wales settled in the south central Minnesota areas of Mankato/Lake Crystal/Cambria/Le Sueur/Ottawa. They brought with them a very strong tradition of Welsh music. This tradition has been continued by descendants of those immigrants and others who are not of Welsh descent.

In the 1920s an organization called the Minnesota Gymanfa Ganu Association (MGGA) was formed and it established an annual Gymanfa Ganu (Welsh Hymn Festival) to be held each September.

In 1997 the organization incorporated in Minnesota.

In 2007 its application to the United States Internal Revenue Service was approved and it is now an official 501-c-3 non-profit, non-political corporation, whose mission is to preserve, develop and promote Welsh religious and cultural heritage in Minnesota.