We are finally rested up from taking two vans down to my hometown of Ashley, ND where I spent all but two years growing up amongst the Germans from Russia. So much has changed in 46 years, yet it hasn’t. Main Street is the same except for different stores, less cafes and less bars and only one grocery store. When I was growing up we had the cutest little place where you could buy the best malts for 50 cents. My Dad used to take all the quarters out of his pocket and tell me to get some malts, so away on my bike I went and I don’t know how I manage to steer my bike home and carry malts but I did it. They had a good bakery back then too and the day old bread was still good. We had 4 grocery stores and I love to go with my Mom to buy grocerys and back then you got the glasses and saucers in the oatmeal containers. There was all kinds of interesting stuff in grocery stores back then. I can still smell the German sausage being made and the recipe was secret of course. Then another grocery store had half grocerys and half clothing and they had section where they had hats that the ladies like to wear to church and we like to try on if we could get away with it. Before the new Rexall Drug Store was built they had a small drugstore and it was long and narrow. We had a big cafe where you could order a brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or an ice cream sundae in the special ice cream dish with chocolate drizzle over it was to die for. Is it any wonder I love collecting ice cream items. Then there was a brick post office which is still standing today, empty but I rem. going there to get the mail with my Mom and you had to rem. the combination or go to the window and ask for your mail. I rem. someone lived upstairs in the old post office and they hung their laundry out to dry and it always fascinated me how they got lines way out in mid air-I still wonder!
The old Coast to Coast store where my Dad bought us bikes. Mine was green with Coast to Coast written over one of the bars and my sisters was red. She had training wheels, I did not–and she refused to try and learn. Being the big sister I am I took off those training wheels and told her she could do it. She was so proud when she rode her bike to meet our Dad coming down the road. Then there was another hardware store where my Mom would send me to get some sewing machine needles from a blue and white wheel that held all the needles. We had car dealorships on Main Street and John Deehr Implement which my uncle managed. We had bowling alley where we went as a class to bowl. We had an old Ashley Theatre where popcorn was a dime, pop was a quarter and put the bottle back in the container when you left, and the movie was 50 cents. So you could go to a movie back in the 1960’s for less than $1.00. Gas was cheap too and we had gas stations on all end streets of Ashley. Everyone except kids talked German and at Grandma Delzers house that is what the aunts would chapper in-so frustrating because we couldn’t understand what they were saying. The school is larger now as they has added a Grade School onto the High School-still I walked past my old locker-least I think it was number 167. Our classmates all looked different as we are older now, ready to retire and some have done so. Some of us have grandchildren going to proms-yikes. With my cousins and his gal friend and my husband we set up our tent off of Main Street in Ashley and sold kuchen beside the corn dogs and lemonade stand. There was Kase Knefla, Fleishkla in trailors across from us as well as all the other good foods you find at outdoor events. It was fun to stand back and watch all the action going on, trying to recognize people with my cousins help and visit with those I knew. Meeting new people was eventful. One day it was cool, the next day windy and rainy, the next day hot, but all in all we survived the weather. Afterall we are hardy people.
