Art Burke, the salt water taffy man, was always first to arrive at the fairgrounds. His taffy made its first appearance at our fair in 1923. (Submitted photo)

Art Burke, the salt water taffy man, was always first to arrive at the fairgrounds. His taffy made its first appearance at our fair in 1923. (Submitted photo)

When I came to Owatonna in 1959 the fairgrounds looked a lot different. That included the food stands that were available on the fairgrounds. I remember the A & W sit-down restaurant which was located just east of Fair Square Park. Bill Lance, who also ran the A & W on the east side of town operated the fair food stand. Later, Dick Erdman purchased and ran the fair. He would serve the actual A & W root beer along with burgers and other sandwiches. Across the road to the north I can remember the VFW food stand. Mel Pfeifer ran the stand with VFW members volunteering their time behind the counter.

A food café where you could sit down in a dining room was sponsored by the Owatonna Knights of Columbus. It was located on Elm Street, right across from where the Four Seasons’ entrance is located. Duke Randall, who also ran a restaurant (Duke’s Café) downtown across from Central Park, was the manager and chief cook at the fairgrounds K.C. Diner. I will always remember the day when Duke prepared homemade turkey and dressing dinners. Duke always saved me the crispy dressing from the sides of the pan. The turkey was wonderful and many fairgoers skipped the fast-food stands in favor of a home-made turkey dinner.

When I came to town, the Aurora Diner was already in operation each year of the fair. Betty Oeltjunbruns ran the diner which also featured a full dinner menu. The breakfasts at the Aurora were especially popular with the livestock people who were located nearby.

It was enjoyable for me to visit with Betty, who was the first manager of the Aurora Diner. She managed the operation yearly for 40 years. Betty told me, “We were getting requests from cattle exhibitors to establish a diner where they could eat at all times of the day. Les and I along with Clarence and Ruth Ahlborn were the ones who started it. We recruited some church members who worked on the farm during the day and in the evening came to help build the diner. We accomplished the job in two to three weeks.” For all 40 years, Betty and Les would arrive at the diner at 4:30 a.m., make coffee and prepare for the breakfast rush. Church members all chipped in to help. Edith Anderson made the potatoe salad and other members made pies at home.

The Aurora Diner remained much the same until the state insisted that pies and potato salad had to be made on site. So, an addition had to be built on the east side of the diner to allow for equipment needed to cook and bake everything on site.

I can also remember a traveling canteen that was located on the north side of the race track. Manager Elmer Reseland was excited to bring this diner to our fair, which was much like the diners from fairs of yesteryear. As I recall the canteen only came to our fair for about two years.

Remember the Blue Willow food stands? They were part of the fair before I came to Owatonna. There were two Blue Willow stands on the grounds. The Blue Willow was named after the Blue Willow dishes that were used in the boarding house which was located across from the current post office. Leora Richardson, also a long-time waitress at Jerry’s and her husband Max, ran the Blue Willow. I remembering interviewing Leora who told me, “We sent for the dishes through Montgomery Ward. We even had Blue Willow wallpaper! We served lunch and dinner family style. Cost was 50 cents at noon and 75 cents at night. We fed and housed 22 girls and about a dozen men, most of them employees at Federated. Meals included hot dishes and salads at noon and meat, potatoes and gravy at night. I did all the cooking and our daughter set the tables before she left for school. The Federated girls also helped. We catered to the Owatonna Country Club and to a lot of churches.”

Blue Willow at the fair

The Blue Willow operated two food stands at the fair. One was about where the current Tom Thumb Donuts operation is located and one was along Elm Street where the Four Seasons entrance is now located. One of the Blue Willow stands had a dirt floor.

Those are a few of the local food stands that I remember.

I will always remember Elma Skalicky who was superintendent of the Culinary Arts Department for many years. One didn’t date try to sneak in a box cake for competition. Elma cold spot them a mile away! Elma was also secretary of the Local 490 Musicians Union. She would stand guard at our radio tent to make sure that the bands we hired were members of the Musicians Union.

Sharon Katzung has been named as this year’s Livestock Hall of Fame Inductee. During her lifetime, Sharon served as President of the Minnesota State and Steele County Porkettes and was also chairwoman of the Minnesota State Pork Queen program. She was a proud promoter of the pork industry for over 30 years. She also received the Outstanding 4-H Adult Leader award. Sharon passed away in 2015.

Dr. Tony Seykora is this year’s recipient of the Livestock Hall of Fame Service Award. Tony graduated from Owatonna High School and was a Professor of Dairy Cattle Genetics in the U. of M. Department of Animal Science for 30 years. He served as Coordinator of the Animal Science Major at the U of M. He is the son of the late Jerome Seykora. His mother, Delores lives in Owatonna. Tony’s wife is the former Rel Thiele. His brother, Dale, runs the Seykora farm near Litomysl.

Both Tony and Sharon will be honored on Tuesday afternoon at a 2 p.m. program in the livestock show arena sponsored by Central Farm Service.

This Monday at 5 p.m. is the deadline to purchase the Mega Ride ticket for this year’s fair. Cost is $55 and entitles the wrist band wearer to unlimited rides on the midway all fair week. They are available at the Hy-Vee service counter.

Cindy from Grace’s Tex Mex runs one of the most popular stands at the fair. This year Cindy is cutting back to just one booth which will only serve Cindy Nachos. There will be no tacos or burritos from Grace’s this year. The primary reason is availability of employees to run a second booth plus the exorbitant food costs.

You who subscribe to the Owatonna People’s Press and the Blooming Prairie Times received a fair brochure in your papers last week. You can also pick up brochures at the fair office and at local restaurants. Note the little girl on the front of the brochure. She is three-and-a-half-year-old Rory Bailey, daughter of Matt Bailey and Brooke Limoseta of Owatonna. Grandparents are Jennifer and Doug Schlobohm of Owatonna and Rod and Rose Bailey of Austin who attend our fair every year.

Les Abraham tells me that there’s a good selection of pre-1978 convertibles that are on display this year at the Wells Fargo Auto Museum. He also indicated that next year’s display will be Corvettes. The years to be included in the display will be announced later.

Who can forget Art Burke, the taffy man? His taffy stand was always one of the first to be placed on the fairgrounds. He would annually stop at my father-in-law Bill Klemmer’s shop ahead of the fair to have a part made for his taffy machine. I never saw him without wearing pure white shirt and pants.

The Owatonna Arts Center is looking for volunteers to sit at a table in front of the Fine Arts Building at the fair to help young and old alike create a fun craft project courtesy of the Owatonna Arts Center. If you can help for a two-hour shift, call the Arts Center and talk to Linda at the Owatonna Arts Center.

The minister started his children’s sermon with a question, “Who knows what a Resurrection is?”

Without missing a beat, a young boy says, “If you have one that lasts more than four hours, call your physician.

The pastor is still laughing.

Data included is taken from the Minnesota Department of Health Daily reports. Because all data is preliminary, the change in number of cumulative positive cases and deaths from one day to the next may not equal the newly reported cases or deaths.

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