Looks like I blew it last week. More than one person has let me know the Iowa Farm Machine music thing was a hoax. Even got an e-mail from the director of university relations at the University of Iowa. I guess that proves our Web editions are showing up on search engines.
In my defense, I did plant a seed that it might not be real. Even though it isn't real it's still enjoyable to watch. They call it computer animation.
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We've had a great year at the Free Press and we thank everyone for making it so. Exciting times are always ahead with the beginning of a new year. I think everyone evaluates where they have been in business and makes plans for new ideas and strategies being implemented in the new year.
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When we started the newspaper more than eight years ago, we had the very latest in technology. Now we have fallen behind a little, so it's time to get with it and ramp up again for the future.
Most everything you buy these days is almost obsolete the week after you buy it.
Our computers and software work fine, but keeping them ⁄going takes more effort because the old stuff isn't supported any longer.
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We're liking the earlier date for the county fair this year (July 25-28). It means our grandsons can come earlier this summer and won't be starting school the day they get home.
I am told the date was changed because the event was just too close to the start of the new school year and didn't give the kids enough time to finish their projects.
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With my series of vignettes about Hillsboro businessmen from my early days I thought it would be helpful to have a look at some of the old phone books. Nancy remembered her parents having some old books stored in their coffee table. We went there for a visit last Sunday and sure enough there was a 1955 phone book-the year my family moved to town.
We also found a menu from the Star Cafe located at 115 S. Main in the stack of phone books-it was located where Baker Bros. Printing now operates and was owned by Jake Herbel, who also owned the recreation center at 119 S. Main called Plamor Recreation Parlor.
The most expensive thing on the Star Cafe menu was a large T-bone steak for 50 cents. A cup of coffee was a nickel.
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Wishing I had more phone books to look through for remembering and research, I ran a small classified in our paper and the next day Myrtle Mohn walks in with a handful of United Telephone books from the early '60s through the '70s.
It certainly pays to advertise!
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This week I remember Herb Friesen, who owned Herb's Auto, which was located where Doc Scharenberg has his office now. I remember Herb being sort of a free spirit and fun-loving guy.
He sold Hudson Automobiles, including Hornets, Wasps and Ramblers. He had a little car like an MG Midget that he drove to Indianapolis for many years to take in the Indy 500. Or it may have been one of the Metropolitans, which had room for your hat and a gallon of gas.
In the early '70s Nancy and I were living in Lawrence and I needed a second vehicle for a work car. Herb had a '53 Chevy that once belonged to Evo Curvey. For a $35 donation from my father-in-law to the Marion County Fair, Herb gave me the car.
I think every one of the business guys I have written about so far were members of the Kiwanis Club. There is a photo of Herb flipping pancakes on Page 21 of the "Hillsboro's Heritage" photo book. He's even wearing a white shirt and tie.
