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Tomorrow is planting time in Upsala, so this is going out early.  After I finish planting in the garden, I plan on visiting “Hippe Landing” west of Upsala near the American Legion Memorial Park on Cedar Lake.  They have one of the best swimming beaches in central Minnesota.  There are camping spots also, but I understand there is a long waiting list. 

There used to be an old store without any signage located west of the park. At one time it was called Cedar Lake Pavilion. The store was owned and run by Emie Hippe. Emie was a real character and for many years she served ice cream, candy and pop to kids from the park and 3.2 beer to the adults. The PayDay candy bar was a favorite of mine.

Strangely, you could not buy a Coke there and I always wondered why. One day my brother Craig and I went in to have a drink and I finally had the nerve to ask her, “Emie, why don’t you serve Coca Cola?” She slammed her hand on the bar and said “The dirty rascals.  My husband Ben used to travel quite a ways with the empty bottles and bring back the full ones. Then during the war, they asked us to simply hold on to the empties and they would pick them up later.” So what happened Emie? “The dirty rascals changed their mind and would not pick them up.” “What did you do with them Emie, they would be worth a lot of money?” “You will never find them!” she proclaimed, “We buried them under two ton of rock!”

For over 60 years no Coca Cola products were sold from this store, all because someone broke a promise. I am sure that the Coca Cola route driver tried a few times when he would see the Pepsi truck out front, but she never let Coke back on the shelf.

Live from Here is a live show from Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia.  Special guests include Guster, Adia Victoria, Matt Braunger and Madison Cunningham.  Clips from old shows are online at livefromhere.org. 

“In the best organizations, promises are kept no matter what the cost in agony and overtime.”  David Ogilvy