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Oddities and Fun

By Katie Hunhoff

“I see nothing in space as promising as the view from a Ferris wheel,” wrote children’s author E.B. White. Colorful games and rides, people of all ages spending time together, laughing, eating, chatting with neighbors. Fairs are exhibits of our culture at its finest.

Late summer gatherings date back to the early years of our United States. Eventually the fairs evolved and became more elaborate. But they’ve always symbolized a last hurrah before school begins and winter comes.

One of our favorites is the Turner County Fair in Parker (Aug. 15-18). This year the fair turns 136, making it the oldest in South Dakota. Once inside the gates (free admission, by the way) you’ll find a fun little pioneer town to tour known as Heritage Park. It has a general store, church, school and millinery. Each is furnished with antiques and open to the public. Outside you’ll find a shaded stage which hosts non-stop music and entertainment throughout the four-day spectacle. If you’re wondering about food, you’re in for a treat. Local beef and pork producers run dueling booths that garner long lines at dinner, but another popular choice is a chislic booth organized by sheep farmer Bill Aeschlimann and some friends way back in 1983. Turner and Hutchinson counties are known as the home of chislic — a Russian tradition of beef, lamb or pork seasoned and grilled over an open fire. (Or, here in America, deep fat fried as we also do with Oreos and cupcakes.)

Other fairs are known for fun and games. The Potter County Fair (Aug. 6-9) in Gettysburg features Cow Patty Bingo. An open patch of grass at the fairgrounds is divided into squares, each of which is for sale. Once the squares are sold, a cow is turned loose on the grass. The owner of the square where the cow first leaves her mark wins the jackpot.

In Aberdeen, at the Brown County Fair (Aug. 15-21), a fair staffer goes out early every morning to hide a stuffed monkey named Casey. The first kid to find Casey wins carnival tickets or another fair prize.

Visit the Corson County Fair in McIntosh (Aug. 12-14) to view turtle races — prizes go to both the fastest and slowest racers. Here’s a hint: painted turtles are faster than mud turtles, in case you didn’t know. Here’s another hint: snapping turtles can be dangerous.

Food competitions are popular attractions at our local fairs. Often attendees get to taste the results. The Custer County Fair (Aug. 11-14) in Hermosa features an ice cream crank-off. Power models are forbidden, guaranteeing an old-fashioned experience for kids who have never had an opportunity to make their own. A chili cook-off is one of the highlights of the Sully County Fair (Aug. 11-14) in Onida. The public can sample all the chili they can eat after the contest, for only $5.

Fairs are a fine way to celebrate our communities, but the food, games and exhibits aren’t as meaningful if people don’t show up to enjoy them. We hope you take the time to visit one of the dozens of fairs in South Dakota this summer.

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Parker’s New Bakery

By Rebecca Johnson

These days,”gluten-free” is almost everywhere. Most major grocery stores carry gluten-free items and an Amazon.com search of the phrase turns up over 190,000 results. But it hasn’t always been that way.

April Smith was first introduced to the gluten-free lifestyle in college at the University of South Dakota.”I had a few roommates in a row diagnosed with celiac disease,” Smith says. She was sympathetic as they adjusted to the digestive disorder that causes an immune reaction to eating gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye, and later was diagnosed with wheat intolerance herself.”It explained a lot of my food choices over my lifetime,” Smith says”It wasn’t just that I didn’t like pasta or beer. It was making me sick.”

After college, Smith spent over a decade managing natural foods sections in Hy-Vee grocery stores in Rochester, Minnesota and Sioux Falls.”One day I had four different dads come in looking for [gluten-free] cupcakes for a little kid’s birthday party at school,” she says.”It just drove me nuts that there were so many kids out there who couldn’t get a cupcake for their birthday safely.” More options are now available, but they’re not always delicious. So Smith and her husband, Clement, decided to start Heart of the City Bakery, a gluten-free bakery in Parker.

Clement spends his”day job” supervising the kitchen at South Middle School in Harrisburg.”He’s the one that hammered out how to make a lot of the initial recipes,” Smith says. They started their business at home, testing muffins, cookies and cupcakes on their kids. Gluten works like a glue that holds ingredients together so it’s a lot of trial and error.”It’s almost better that neither of us are trained bakers because if we were it would drive us nuts what we have to do to make things work now. Like a lot of times instead of kneading air out of bread, I’m trying to put air into bread. Or a cake mix that you would have mixed for 5 or 10 minutes on an industrial mixer, I now need to barely combine the ingredients and then walk away,” she explains

The couple initially filled private orders and traveled to farmers markets. But business grew quickly, so they moved to a building in downtown Parker last July. Space is shared with Brandy’s Custom Cakery, owned by Brandy Engels.”It was a giant old bakery, so we basically divided the back third of it up so it’s two separate bakeries now. We have walls and a door between us that stays shut whenever Brandy’s got any flour flying around,” Smith jokes.”And if an ingredient is not certified gluten-free, I don’t bring it into my bakery.”

April works full-time in Sioux Falls and bakes in her free time, while Engels keeps regular hours. Clients can pick up special orders from Engels’ storefront and the businesses work together for special events.”Brandy does all the wedding orders and we just come back to our bakery and make all the pieces,” Smith says.”Basically I make all the bricks and she mortars it together and makes it gorgeous.”

Besides gluten-free, Heart of the City Bakery can fill vegan orders and work with other allergies. Call (605) 929-9542 to order.”And people are always welcome to call and talk. If you just need to figure out how to feed a kid who has been diagnosed with an allergy, I can always point you to the right web site or the right dietician to get you started,” Smith says.”You know, I’m not trained in that at all, but I’ve spent 15 years helping other people learn how to eat again.”

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A Mighty Fair County

By John Andrews

They call them”the best four days of summer.” The Turner County Fair brings tens of thousands of people to Parker every August, but there’s more to enjoy in this quaint county than prize-winning farm animals, carnival rides and meat on a stick. You can enjoy a celebration of Danish culture, see an impressive collection of fossils, watch nearly an entire town stage an elaborate theatre production or visit every one of the 158 stone bridges handcrafted during the Depression.

The fair is Turner County’s signature event. The first one was held in 1880, just nine years after the Dakota Territorial legislature created Turner County and named it for lawmaker John Turner. The annual ag expo moved from farm to farm around Parker and one year was moved to Swan Lake. The Works Progress Administration helped create the present fairgrounds during the Depression. There’s no admission to get in, but there’s all the livestock, food, music, rides and fun that you’ll find at any other fair.

Danish Days is another summertime celebration that draws huge crowds to Viborg. Originally celebrated June 5 to coincide with the Danish Independence Day, Danish Days is now held the third weekend in July. Methodist church ladies rise early to make aebleskiver for the town of 800. Legend credits Vikings with cooking the first batch of ball-shaped Danish pancakes. After a battle they noticed dents in their shields, so they filled them with batter and cooked them over a fire. In Viborg they’re eaten with powdered sugar or syrup.

With bellies full, people line Main Street for the parade and Danish dancing, performed by Sunday school children. Dancing has been a tradition in Viborg for decades. Youth practiced dancing once a month at the Lutheran parsonage during the Depression. Children also learned dances during summer Bible school, a tradition that continues today. They wear red, white and black Danish outfits that resemble those worn by Czech Beseda dancers at Tabor. Boys wear short pants, a white shirt and a tie, while girls don skirts, aprons, vests and caps.

Viborg’s citizenry dons colorful costumes to celebrate the town’s Danish heritage.

There’s more food after the parade at the Taste of Denmark, a buffet of Danish dishes. A main course is open-faced sandwiches.”In Denmark, they always used a slice of bread, usually rye bread, with cheese or ham,” says Susan Edelman, a member of the Danish Days committee.”And then they decorated them with pickles, tomatoes and cucumbers. That’s what we do.” There are Danish puffs, sweet soup served with cream or heavy milk and Êbblekage (apple cake).

Viborg is proud of its heritage, and that can be seen at the Daneville Heritage Museum. The museum’s exhibits explore Scandinavian art, 20th century politics, pioneer agriculture and storekeeping, murals by local artist Greg Preheim and other themes. Rich Skola, the museum director, says local support for the Daneville Heritage Museum has been so exceptional that, “We joke sometimes that the museum will be here long after the town.”

One of the main supporters was Alphie “Toots” Peterson, an avid historian who donated time, money and artifacts, including glassware and much of the stained glass in a recreated country chapel. Her husband, Merle, ran as a Democratic candidate for state legislature in the 1960s when Ralph Herseth and George McGovern were leading a resurgence of the party. She died two years ago, at age 94, leaving the museum some of her assets. She’s perhaps one reason why the Daneville museum has a 1960 poster of the Democratic ticket, with photos of Merle and McGovern and all the other candidates — along with a big poster of McGovern, plus an exhibit of Hubert H. Humphrey and other Democratic memorabilia.

A display in the Daneville Heritage Museum in Viborg remembers the town’s creamery.

For more colorful history visit Centerville, where notorious gangster John Dillinger and his cronies are said to have shot up a pan of perfectly good baked beans in the spring of 1934. Fred Mart had been out repairing a radio at a friend’s farm and it was nearly midnight before he returned to Centerville. He stopped at Bert Hart’s coffee house and card room known as the Bloody Bucket.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Bert told Fred. “Can you stay for awhile? I’ve got some characters in the back and I might need some help.” Bert added that a batch of his beans was just about ready.

He led Fred toward a back room where three men sat, rolling dice, with a pile of money between them. There was also a knife and “an awful big gun” on the floor.

Fred recognized one of the men as Mike Mee, owner of a local bank. Mee’s position was quite ironic considering the identities of the other two men. Years later, Bert told him who they were — Baby Face Nelson and John Dillinger.

Both greeted Fred then went back to their game. Mee and Baby Face Nelson were drinking near beer, spiked with something from another bottle, and they offered Fred one, which he accepted. He waited for Bert’s baked beans, sizzling and popping away in the wood cook stove in the corner, to finish.

After a time, Baby Face Nelson seemed to notice the stove for the first time and asked what was cooking.

“Beans,” Fred told him.

“Then he says, ‘Well let’s flavor them up!’ and he fired his gun right into the stove. Bang! Bang! Bang!” Fred recalls. “Of course, old Bert comes running from the front saying, ‘What happened? What happened?'”

Steam and smoke billowed from the punctured stove, bean juice flowed onto the floor and Bert was furious. Since it doesn’t pay to get angry at a man with a gun, though, there wasn’t much he could do. Of more immediate concern, to Fred at least, was what was in the stove.

Sherree Schmiedt with the collection of fossils that her husband, Stan, brought to Main Street of Centerville.

“I never did get anything to eat that night,” says Fred. “I decided I didn’t want any lead-flavored beans.”

With nothing left to stick around for, Fred decided to call it a night. As Dillinger let him out the back way, he reminded Fred that he had gone straight home that night. “I don’t know anything, I didn’t see anything,” Fred told him.

You can also investigate an impressive collection of fossils that longtime city leader Stan Schmiedt brought to Centerville several years ago. The items originally belonged to Alcester native Eugene Hoard, who spent years searching the Black Hills and Badlands for geological treasures. As his collection grew he tried to find a permanent home for it, but found no interest. Eventually it ended up in a storage shed in Centerville. Schmiedt heard about the collection and transferred the items to a museum on Main Street.

There are unique places to visit in Turner County’s other towns, as well. Two miles north of Marion you’ll find Ken’s, a small fishing hole that Ken Tieszen hoped to build for years. After his death, Marlo Wieman bought the land and fulfilled Ken’s dream. The lake is a popular destination for families.

Danish stonemason Lars Mogensen and his crew built 169 stone bridges, arches and culverts around Turner County during the Depression.

In Chancellor, visit the museum attached to the fire hall where you’ll find a vintage 1905 fire engine (its original pumper still works). Davis is home to about 85 people, and in March nearly every one of them helps to stage the annual Davis Winterstock theater production. The shows began in 1983 and each year they raise thousands of dollars for local charities.

In the countryside, watch for the stone bridges, arches and culverts that Lars Mogensen built during the Depression. Mogensen was a master stonemason who learned the trade in his native Denmark. He and his crew were employed under the New Deal’s make-work program creating 169 stone structures to replace the wooden bridges that were falling into disrepair. Today 158 still exist. Armed with a plate of aebleskiver and a Thermos of Danish coffee, that might be a good way to spend a day in Turner County.

Editor’s Note: This is the 16th installment in an ongoing series featuring South Dakota’s 66 counties. Click here for previous articles.

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Our Fair Tour

By Katie Hunhoff

South Dakotans wave farewell to summer with the colorful sights, delicious foods and dizzying rides at local or state fairs. This year South Dakota Magazine is travelling to some of our favorite fairs to celebrate the magazine’s 30th anniversary.

We will visit with readers, serve Forestburg watermelon slices and soak up South Dakota’s fair culture. Our schedule began with Parker’s Turner County Fair on Wednesday, Aug. 19, then Rapid City’s Central States Fair Aug. 21-22. Finally, we’ll visit the State Fair in Huron Sept. 6-7, where we will have the honor to be on stage with legendary performer Sherwin Linton. We won’t be singing, but will have some good South Dakota stories for the audience.

Linton has performed for over 30 years at Huron, as well as other fairs around the country. Three times a day on the state fair’s Centennial Stage, fans sit under tall shade trees and listen to Sherwin, his wife Pam and their longtime band “The Cotton Kings.” Linton plays over 250 concerts a year and, amazingly, has never missed a performance in his 50-plus years of entertaining. His perfect attendance placed In the next issue of the magazine we recount a Sherwin Linton story that Bob Glanzer wrote in his new book, You Can’t Unring a Bell. Glanzer helped plan and produce the state fair for 26 years and from 1980-2002 was the superintendent of the grandstand stage and show events. During his tenure he met Minnie Pearl, and confirms she was just as funny backstage as she was onstage. He drove Red Skelton to the Sioux Falls airport and was treated to two hours of stories and humor. Skelton bought him breakfast and tipped him $50 for the drive.

One story that stood out in Glanzer’s mind was a meeting between Sherwin Linton and Johnny Cash. It was during the state fair’s bicentennial year in 1976. Glanzer was standing backstage before Cash’s performance. Cash looked at his manager and said, “Do you notice anything different about me tonight?” His manager didn’t notice anything unusual about Cash’s all-black attire. Cash then told him to look at his feet. He was wearing two left boots. The manager asked Glanzer to find a pair of size 13 black boots and gave him $100. Glanzer took off for the midway, where he knew Geiger’s Western Wear was selling western clothes and tack. The largest black boots were size 12, so Glanzer bought them and ran back to stage.

Cash squeezed his size 13 feet into the size 12 boots and went on stage to perform two shows. At the end of his second show, Cash told the audience the story of his two left boots and how the new boots were too small. He spotted Sherwin Linton in the audience and invited him on stage.

As Glanzer recalls, Johnny gave a nice tribute to Sherwin, took off the boots and told Linton to try them on. He then asked Sherwin,”How do they fit?”

Sherwin replied,”I could never fill your shoes, Johnny!”

Cash replied, “Oh, yes you can!” Linton went back to his seat wearing the new trophies of the concert and Johnny finished the show in his stocking feet.

South Dakota Magazine is proud to be a part of South Dakota’s fair tradition this summer. Look for our green ’49 Chevy delivery pickup and stop by for a slice of watermelon. And if you see Sherwin Linton, ask about Johnny’s boots.