Along The Ad Routes

I received a few calls from Harold Chappell, someone we wrote a Spotlight story about a month ago. He’s about 90 years old now and a Dodgeville High School graduate. The story was basically about people who helped him along the way in life. He said he was receiving calls about what he did after people helped him. I checked and most of what he writes here was in the story, but maybe not with actual numbers. So here’s what he wrote: “I served 4 years in the Air Force in Okinawa during the Korean War, taught 2 years in both Guam and Panama,was a High School Principal in Yuma Colorado, Assistant Superintendent of Schools in Council  Bluffs Iowa, and spent 29 years as the Head of the Department of Education at Missouri State University.

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After writing about Anita’s Cafe in Arena last week and saying that Anita was telling people they would be in Spring Green by 2025, I received a call from her. She said she was joking about 2025 and that she and Arlena laughed when she said that to us, but all of us at the table took her seriously! She said that she was tired of people asking when they were moving so that’s where 2025 came about. There is a lot of work to do there so they can’t really come up with a date yet. I told her to not look so serious when she says things that are a joke. I’m a very serious person!

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We received a note with a subscription renewal from Dennis and Sharon Olson, Avoca the other day. They said: “Keep up the good work reporting local news.” We try anyway!

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Saturday morning we headed to the northwest a little to Highland for breakfast. Dave Stone is on vacation, so it was Bob, Terry, Dewey, Tom and me making short trip to Front Porch that was formerly Betsy’s Cafe and before that Grandma’s Kitchen. Some of the faces working there have changed since our last trip. The clientele has changed a lot from the time we are there too. Sam, not a Highland native, was our waitress. She was a lot of fun to talk to and she did a great job keeping our coffees filled and checking to see if we needed anything. Four of us had omelettes and even though she didn’t write down our orders in the order we were sitting (Bob’s fault - he couldn’t make up his mind!) she placed them down exactly as we had ordered them. I should say that three of them were the same!

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After we left breakfast, we made a stop at the Highland Historical Society’s Farm Market. It’s located on Saturdays at the Historical Society that is the “old school”. They have a nice selection of fruits and vegetables plus some really yummy baked goods. The box of sweet rolls looked very tasty. I bought a blueberry pie and it was half gone by that evening!

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Arena had a very nice parade for their ongoing Centennial celebration. Annually the parade is a memorial one for Mary Jones and Yolanda Peterson, who were wives of two prominent Arena people. I think every entry threw candy and treats to the people watching. It is a very narrow street, near the park, for the entries to travel on and people are on the grass, so it is very safe!

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Another successful Farmers Appreciation Day was held Sunday in downtown Dodgeville. It was a very nice parade and all the activities in the courthouse parking lot following went very well. The only thing that (maybe) could’ve been better was if it had rained just after things concluded!

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I’m going to go with tomorrow (Friday) as being the special day to talk about. It’s National  French Fry Day! From what I found, the expression “French Fried Potatoes” first occured in print in English in the 1856 work Cookery for Maids of All Work by E. Warren. It is believed by some that the term “French” was introduced to the potatoes when the American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I and consequently tasted Belgian fries. Since French was the official language of the Belgian Army at that time, it is possible the American soldiers began calling the fried potatoes “French” fries. All I know is that they are one of America’s favorite foods!