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ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIXTH YEAR
BP Woman will be at ‘Relay Friday’
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BELLE PLAINE, MINNESOTA, july 12, 2017
Legion Team Headed to Playoffs
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NUMBER 28
A Lifetime of Memories at Belle Plaine’s Bar-B-Q Days Mary and John Stier Will Lead Parade
They have been around as long as Bar-B-Q Days, Belle Plaine’s summer festival. Mary and John Stier have a lifetime of memories from Bar-B-Q Days of years gone by, where they volunteered their time while visiting with friends and neighbors. Saturday (July 15, noon), the couple will be center stage as grand marshals of the 59th Annual Bar-B-Q Days Parade. The parade runs from the Belle Plaine Fire Station west on Main Street to West Street. Born the spring of 1959, the year after the first Bar-B-Q Days, Mary has been at every Bar-B-Q Days celebration since she was born except one. John, three years her elder, has seen the community festival annually since he was a child. The two grew up a block or so apart on Park and Willow streets. Next month, they’ll celebrate their 40th anniversary. “We played in the same sandbox,” Mary said. As children, they were in the festival’s kiddie parades each year. They also regularly attended the community parade and the poolside shows. When Mary’s father arranged for divers from ValleyFair to dive from a 90-foot diving platform, John recalls a 10-foot ladder being mounted atop a 80-foot tall scaffold. “That was pretty crazy,” John said. “That was one of those things I don’t think they’d allow today.” The Stiers are co-owners of Stier Transportation, the company that buses children to school and activities. Mary and John will ride in the parade aboard an open Jeep driven by their son, Ben. He and his family live here in town. Their oth-
Grand Marshals (continued on page 8)
Terry Siemon was the last member of the Siemon family to own a share of the implement dealership his father started in 1964. Monday (July 10), Ag. Power was acquired by Kibble Equipment. Siemon will not be a part of the staff at the implement dealership. His last day John and Mary Stier are this year’s grand marshals of the was Friday (July 7). Bar-B-Q Days Parade.
Siemon Family Takes Fond Bar-B-Q Days, 2017 Memories From Dealership A Weekend of Fun in Belle Plaine Begins Friday
Belle Plaine’s contribution to the schedule of summer community festivals begins Friday. The start of Bar-B-Q Days Friday (July 14) at Union Square Park will mark three days of fun in town. Most food and beverages will cost the same as last year, including the festival’s namesake sandwich at $3.50. The presliced meat will again be from Coborn’s Grocery Store. The beer garden will feature Miller Lite (strong), which remains $3 for a 14-ounce cup and $12 for pitchers ($10 refill). Also on sale will be Blakeley brewed u4ic beer, plus Sharps, Summer Shandy, Redd’s Apple Ale, Mike’s Hard Cranberry, and Henry’s Hard Orange Soda, all of which cost $4 a glass. Specials in the beer garden ($1 off cups and $2 off pitchers) will be from 6-8 p.m. Friday
and from 3-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. All profits from Bar-B-Q Days are used for community projects. For more information on this weekend’s festivities, e-mail the Belle Plaine Festival and Events office -- belleplainefestivals@gmail.com -- or call 952-873-0855.
Cavalcade of Merriment
The Bar-B-Q Days schedule of events includes:
Friday, July 14
Beef Stand serving at 4:30 p.m. Beer Garden opening at 4 p.m., with specials, 6-8 p.m. Horse Show (Minn. Valley Riders) behind Chatfield El-
Bar-B-Q Days
(continued on page 7)
Erik Hoff (seated) found the Bar-B-Q Days medallion beneath the blocking sled behind Chatfield Elementary School Thursday (July 6), with help from friends (standing, from left) CeCe Schultz, Alex Muehlenhardt, and Luke Schultz.
Erik Hoff Finds Bar-B-Q Days Medallion Beneath the ‘Star’
B.P. Boy, Friends Find it While Killing Time During Practice
He was part of a group that
had spent a few days trying to Erik Hoff and his friends – Alex find the Bar-B-Q Days Medal- Muehlenhardt, 6½, and Luke lion. The group had checked Schultz, 8 – were passing time a few places the prized medal while 6-year-old CeCe Schultz might have been, but so far had come up empty-handed. Medallion Then, it hit him. (continued on page 4)
They look back over 53 years of ownership, friendships and business relationships with area farmers. Monday (July 10), the Siemon family of Belle Plaine saw its association with the implement dealership come to an end. Kibble Equipment, a dealership based in southwestern Minnesota and South Dakota, formally acquired Ag. Power Enterprises. The agreement completed about 18 months of negotiations. Terry Siemon, the last of the family to own at least a portion of the dealership, worked his last day at the business his father, Marty, started in the mid-1960s in a shed on the south side of the intersection of
Highway 169 and County Road 3. Terry’s son will remain at the dealership as a sales representative. “It was a sad day,” Siemon said. The previous week, he began trying to organize the personal keepsakes collected over two generations of family ownership. “It’s going to be a change for me and the rest of my family. This has been home for a long time.” Terry Siemon was one of several partners and owned 15 percent of the business after his brother, Keith, sold him his share of the business in 2014. The owners unanimously agreed to accept Kibble Equipment’s offer.
“It had to happen,” he said of the sale. Mergers and acquisitions in the world of implement dealerships are nothing new. Siemon Implement merged with Ag. Power in 2007. Siemon knew the acquisition by Kibble meant it was time for him to leave. “They didn’t have to say anything. I just knew. It’s in everyone’s best interest,” he said. “They’re going to do things their way. They are very successful and that works for them.” For Terry Siemon, the acquisition represents a change in life
Siemon
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Rachael Eliason Has Enjoyed Her Year as Miss Belle Plaine When she thinks of the pluses and the minuses of spending the year as Miss Belle Plaine, Rachael Eliason has no doubt the positives outweigh the hurdles. It’s been a great year, and she’s ready to pass the crown on to her successor. Eliason, the daughter of Keren and Michael Eliason, is ready to head off to college in Sioux Falls, S.D. and begin her studies in social work. Sunday (July 16), she’ll crown the next Miss Belle Plaine at the coronation in the junior-senior high school’s south gymnasium. Eliason recalls the Sunday afternoon of Bar-B-Q Days 2016 awaiting McKenzie Koepp to crown her successor. She admits to being “oblivious” to the expectations and the schedule Miss Belle Plaine faced. “I was a little nervous, excited,” Eliason said. “I was just enjoying the speeches and everybody being there.” Being crowned Miss Belle Plaine immediately changed her senior year. Eliason’s schedule was filled with community parades where she and the rest of the court – First Princess Makayla Anderson, Second Princess Alyssa Neisen and Miss Congeniality Hailey Witt -- appeared at various events. They have been to 15 parades since the coronation last July, traveling from Montgomery for Kolacky Days to Anoka for its Halloween celebration. The other festivals included Lonsdale, Jordan, Carver, Le Sueur, Norwood Young America, and Henderson. “It was actually really cool, to be able to walk around and see the other royalty,” she said. “I learned a lot about the other communities.”
Bar-B-Q Days Queen Rachel Eliason will crown her successor Sunday afternoon at Belle Plaine Junior-Senior High School. She has enjoyed her year representing the community. cluded making crafts and readA Full Schedule ing with youngsters. They also Before the end of the sum- performed face painting and mer, Eliason also represented having fun with youngsters Belle Plaine at the Minneapolis at National Night Out festiviAquatennial. Last winter, she ties at Heritage Square Park in represented her hometown at Belle Plaine. the St. Paul Winter Carnival. Eliason “That was super cool,” she (continued on page 2) said. But there were plenty of other fun local events. The Bar-B-Q Days royalty participated in a Princess Tea with elementary school children. The event in-