In a Pickle: A Family Farm Story

11 Pickle Days

75 In 1948 the city fathers had decided that they needed something to attract people to the area, to give local businesses a boost and, as the village president said, “Put Link Lake on the map.” They agreed to erect a statue—something that would stand out and make Link Lake a special place to visit. But what kind? Should it be a huge Holstein (most farmers owned cows), a giant sandbur (these pesky weeds were everywhere), a bundle of wheat (the area once grew acres of it), or a statue of Increase Joseph Link (the pioneer pastor who founded the town in 1852)? After weeks of deliberation, the decision leaned toward a statue of Increase Joseph. That is, until a representative of the H. H. Harlow Pickle Company stepped forward and said that Harlow would cover the cost if the town erected a cucumber sculpture. Faster than you could say “Mother Harlow knows pickles,” the city fathers decided , unanimously, to install a giant cucumber. Now the challenge was to find someone to build the statue. They all agreed it should be made of wood, because that would be the cheapest. The committee chairman, John Dobrey (the local undertaker and furniture store owner), started looking for a 11 Pickle Days carpenter to build the big cucumber. Dobrey soon discovered that finding someone qualified to construct a thirty-foot-tall cucumber was not easy. When he found a couple of local carpenters he thought might be up to it, they turned him down. They said they were accustomed to building straight things, and clearly there was nothing straight about a cucumber. With a stroke of genius, Dobrey thought to contact a builder of farm silos, a fellow from Westfield, one Alphonse Steinnecker. Silos were, of course, cylindrical, as was a cucumber, at least somewhat . After considerable thought, Steinnecker took on the project and spent most of a summer measuring, sawing, pounding, forming, shaving, and sanding until he had a monster cucumber erected on a concrete platform with three concrete steps leading up to it. “You gotta have a firm foundation for an artistic work like this,” he proclaimed. “And you can quote me on that.” The immense green cucumber replica stood on one end of Main Street, on a little hill that overlooked the lake. Not everyone agreed it looked like a cucumber, especially during the construction phase. Some said it resembled a ruptured blimp that had landed on its end and kind of crumpled in the middle. Others said it looked like an enormous Polish sausage. A couple of young guys leaving the Link Lake Tap one Saturday night came face-to-face with the near completed sculpture and said, “Looks like what Paul Bunyan’s dog would leave behind.” Of course it was the latter comment that made the rounds of Link Lake and set tongues to wagging about whether they’d made a huge mistake asking Steinnecker to build something he’d never built before, no matter how firm its foundation. When Alphonse finished the carpentry work, he leaned an extension ladder against the structure and began painting it green. 76 Pickle Days 77 Pickle Days Opinions began changing. Especially when he painted the black spots representing the cucumber’s spines. “Yup, looks like a cucumber. Sort of, anyway,” an onlooker said. Two nights after the structure began looking like a cucumber, a wicked thunderstorm blew across Link Lake and fiercely buffeted the new sculpture. In the clear light of morning, Link Lake citizens noted that their new attraction leaned to the northeast several degrees, but was otherwise unharmed. No one could figure out how to straighten it, so forever after it was fondly called the Leaning Pickle of Link Lake. A plaque, screwed firmly to its base, read, “Donated by the H. H. Harlow Pickle Company, in commemoration of the importance of cucumbers to the community of Link Lake, Wisconsin, 1948.” It made sense for the community to follow with the sponsorship of Link Lake Pickle Days. The annual celebration was a way for the community to show off its big cucumber, and Pickle Days soon became its most important celebration. The American Legion sponsored a second-rate parade on Memorial Day, and the community sponsored a short fireworks display on the Fourth of July, but clearly the town saved its energy for Pickle Days. Some said more people attended Pickle Days than...