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This weekend I plan on visiting “Hippe Landing” west of Upsala next to the American Legion Memorial Park on Cedar Lake.  The park has one of the best swimming beaches in central Minnesota.  There are camping spots also, but I understand there is a long waiting list. 

West of the entrance to the park there is a Public Landing with a sign “Hippe Landing”. There used to be an old store located where the landing is now.  At one time it was called Cedar Lake Pavilion. In the last years of the store’s existence, there was no signage on the outside of the building. 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.  During the war there was a ration on gasoline and the distributor would not deliver.  So, my husband Ben used to travel all the way to Brainerd with the empty bottles and bring back the full ones. Then, for some reason they asked us to 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 them put Coke back on the shelf.

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