Letter to the Editor: Searching for information on the former Dairy Queen in Waukon and other parts of his childhood

To the Editor:

I used to live in Waukon, some 70 years ago. My folks owned the Dairy Queen, and I am looking for any help anyone can give in supplying information you may have relating to the business. To the best of my knowledge, it is located where the present Jet’s Meats & Cafe sits (West Main Street across from Quillin’s).

I remember there was a locker plant just to the east of the Dairy Queen and we shared the same parking lot. I stopped last week and did some title searching with the able assistance at the courthouse, and we believe this is the right location.

We spent three summers there, and I ended the school year going to Waukon and started the first month of the next school year there. I was in the fourth to sixth grades at the time. The family I was closest to was the Evans family, and they lived just west of us. There were four boys, and Grant was my age.

There were other boys our age and we spent the entire day playing adventure games using the neighborhood as the setting.

My request is for any pictures that you may have that would show the old Dairy Queen and maybe even show the trailer home we lived in that sat behind the business but on the same lot. You may even have some pictures that I would be part of, say for birthday parties or the baseball team we had. I would also like to hear from anyone who may remember spending time as part of our neighborhood pals and the adventures we had.

One of the things my dad did was to give free malts to the football team after a game, so maybe some of you had relatives who could recall getting a free treat. What I am asking is to fill in some of the history of my life that was particularly important to me at the time. I have many fond memories of my short time in Waukon, and it was comforting to come back and see how the town has grown and yet find some of the old landmarks that still exist.

You may contact me by email at whiskereddog1@outlook.com or write to Doug Metcalf, 137 Trail Ridge Road, Brookings, SD 57006. I would like to reconnect with friends if any still live around there, or hear any stories people may remember of my parents, Don and Louise Metcalf, and the Dairy Queen.

Doug Metcalf
Brookings, SD