Tuesday is hardly a part of the week anyone looks forward to, but for Lori Alf and other Tracy business owners, it’s a pretty anticipated day — at least one particular Tuesday of the year is.
That would be the day after Labor Day. And labor is just what she and her fellow Food Pridians did extra of in the days and weeks leading up to last weekend’s 99th Annual Box Car Days celebration.
“Everyone always asks me if I’m ready for Box Car Days — I tell them, ‘I’m ready for Tuesday!’” said Alf, a mainstay at Food Pride for many years.
Box Car Days means big business for Tracy stores on that side of town like Food Pride, Subway, Casey’s, Midwest Supply, Boxcar Liquors and The Caboose, which annually hosts a well-attended Sunday mud volleyball tournament.
But back to Food Pride. No business has to prepare for Box Car Days more than Tracy’s grocery store. Not only does it have to handle its day-to-day routines and ordering, it is relied upon to supply everything needed for groups like the Chamber and Lions Club. And we’re not talking about a few cases of pop and ice, either.
“You have to order your burgers, pop and ice — all that stuff needs to be at least two to three weeks out so you can get it into your building on time,” said Alf.
With all the extra stress that comes with Box Car Days, Alf faced an extra frozen dose of it this year. The company that supplies the ice went corporate, and all 285 16-pound bags of the frozen cubes were dropped off in Sioux Falls on Thursday morning instead of being brought to town. Of those bags, 220 were to be used in the beer tent, which everyone knows can get kind of busy on Friday. The other bags were for Sweet Kettle Madness, St. Mary’s and Wheels Across the Prairie Heritage Center.
“That doesn’t even include our order,” said Alf, who also ordered 32 cases of .5 liter bottles of pop. The ice ended up arriving in Tracy at 3:20 p.m. Friday, less than two hours before the beer tent opened.
Alf estimates that orders at the store go up about one-third before Box Car Days. She and store owner Bruce Schelhaas take notes every year as to how much was ordered and what they ran out of.
“We’ve gotten very good at our jobs, because we know exactly … we know we need to order more of this, or order more of that,” said Alf. “It’s like a puzzle where you have to make sure all the pieces fit and everybody gets what they want. Can you image if you didn’t have any ice at the beer tent?”
Alf said they also order extra of some products like cheese and chips in case someone runs out of an item, which has been known to happen from time to time.
Ordering everything is just half the job. When the products come in, Food Pride staff has to organize everything in the back of the store by the loading dock. There will be stacks of items designated for each group that has made big orders.
“When they come and pick it up, it’s just a matter of getting it out the back door,” said Alf. “It is not business as usual at all. There are a lot of hours tied into it.”
Traffic at Food Pride also picks up during the Labor Day weekend. And “picks up” is an understatement.
“It gets heavier,” Alf said. “And now we’re selling the (midway ride) wristbands — there are a lot of parents coming in for those, and then they’ll also pick up bread or pop or something. It requires extra staff, which requires extra scheduling.”
Across the street from Food Pride, the mud volleyball tournament turns The Caboose inside out every Labor Day weekend, as a full Bloody Mary bar with mixed drinks, beer and food is set up near the water-filled courts. The Caboose has been hosting the tournament ever since it was moved from the softball fields more than a decade ago, and are glad to do it.
“It’s the time to shine, make our town look better — bring everybody to town and show them what we can do,” said co-owner Diane Fiegen.
Fiegen and fellow owner John Edwards say business picks up tremendously over the weekend, especially on Sunday. With all those people coming to the restaurant, they see plenty of new faces.
“It’s different people,” Edwards said. “It’s very busy.”
The Caboose usually doesn’t open on Sundays, but Box Car Days is one big exception, so people can eat inside or out, or order inside and eat outside. And they stay open throughout the entire tournament, which has been known to go into the night.
“This is a lot,” Fiegen said. “And we run the bounce house so the kids can play, and we have a hose for people to clean off with. We pretty much try to do everything we can.”
Foot traffic isn’t relegated to just the highway during Box Car Days, however. Sunday morning was also a busy one at Squatch Coffee & Eats, which was the coffee and culinary epicenter during the pickleball tournament in the heart of downtown Tracy. Some were there for a hot breakfast, while others came in for coffee refreshments.
“We did extended hours — just the flow of people is more than normal, and it’s different people,” said Squatch owner Arika Sanders. “This is our third Box Car Days since we’ve opened. Box Car Days brings in more regional people, but also people who aren’t living here anymore who come back.”
Sanders, who said her Squatch After Dark business at the Eagles Club is also doing well, said sales almost triples during the big weekend, thanks in part to the pickleball tournament.
“There used to be nothing downtown on Sunday morning — everyone was out by The Caboose,” she said. “It’s nice to bring something downtown, have something cool in the streets. They kind of trickle in, so it’s not like a super-heavy flow. Box Car Days kind of kicks Tracy back up when it comes to commerce; in the summer, we kind of die out because we’re not a tourist town.”
Squatch’s routine during the big weekend is to open early every day — Sanders gets to Squatch at about 5 a.m. compared to about 6:30 a.m. on normal days — and close when the grand parade begins. But unlike Alf, she doesn’t really look forward to the Tuesday after all the excitement dies down.
“I love being busy, and it doesn’t bother me that it’s a grind,” she said. “It’s what you pray for, to be busy all the time. It’s crazy, but I’m wired differently than most people!”
during the mud volleyball tournament. Photo / Per Peterson BEFORE SUNDAY’S STORM hit Tracy, the Bloody Mary bar was hopping
