Finding Minnesota: The Dam Store
MANKATO, Minn. (WCCO) -- For 100 years now, the Rapidan Dam, southwest of Mankato, has taken the surging water of the Blue Earth River and converted it into energy.
For 100 years, The Dam Store next door has taken a simple word and converted it into laughter.
"We got the dam burger and then the dam pie is all our pies," said store owner Jim Hruska, as he pointed to the menu.
"It was a very good dam pie," chimed in Marlene Barnes, as she set down her fork with a laugh.
Hruska likes to call his business "the best dam store by a dam site."
The jokes just write themselves.
"The kids really love coming in here when they can get away with saying 'dam,' and not getting in trouble for it," said Hruska's daughter, Jenny Barnes, before she mixed a few "dam shakes."
The Dam Store has been in the Hruska family for 38 years. Jenny's brother, David, has taken over most of the cooking duties.
"Most of the people here we know really good," he said, "and you just get to know them like family."
The store's decor tells you, these are people who like to laugh, entertain and get outside. Some of Jim's prized walleyes are mounted on the walls.
"The 10 1/2 pounder I caught last fall, in October, and then the 8 1/2 pounder I caught like four or five years ago, both caught below the dam," he said proudly.
They sell the bait out back.
"Dam good bait," they like to say.
Jim and Linda Hruska were young parents when they first started running The Dam Store.
"My mom, she did all the cooking," David said.
Things have changed dramatically, though, in recent years.
"She got dementia about five, six years ago," he said, "and we could see it coming."
Linda Hruska is no longer able to speak or care for herself, and needs constant supervision.
"She likes coming out here," said Jim as he helped his wife eat in one of the store's booths. "We try to get her out here two or three times a week. She's happy. She comes to the same booth, she goes out to the kitchen. That was her kitchen, you know. She done all the grillin' before the kids cooked."
They believe she still knows what a fine baker her daughter turned out to be, and how well her son has taken over the other duties.
"We miss our mom," said Jenny. "She did it all when she was able to, and so we want to keep it going."
So the dam burgers and dam pies will be served up here, for decades to come -- if they can keep it going. Folks around there are counting on it.
"Because there isn't many dam stores around," said Jim.
For the centennial celebration, the family ordered T-shirts that read, "One hundred dam good years."
They sold so many, they've had to order more.
