Thanksgiving is upon us, and no doubt many citizens of Mower County are looking forward to the Thanksgiving potato race.

That is, they would be if this was Thanksgiving in 1900.

According to the Nov. 28, 1900, issue of the Mower County Transcript, the potato race “is a good game to aid the digestion of the Thanksgiving dinner.”

The rules required players to divide into two teams and place potatoes in rows of five. Two members of each team would then try to gather one potato with a tablespoon, without touching it with your hands, place it in a vegetable dish, and pass the spoon to the next person on the team. The team that gathered all five potatoes first won.

The Mower County Transcript stated,  “By the time that all have gone through the experience considerable hilarity has developed and all have a voice in the fun.”

If the potato race was not to their liking, Mower County citizens could read about how everyone else spent their Thanksgiving. The Dec. 2, 1920, issue of the Mower County News shared such gossipy stories like, “Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Thompson and two sons spent Thanksgiving with Mr. Thompson’s parents in Austin,” and, “Rachel Lewiston who is teaching in Grand Meadow spent Thanksgiving at home.”

If Mower County citizens didn’t want turkey for Thanksgiving, that wasn’t a problem. In 1907, they could simply go to Hormel’s Provision Market and pick up a Thanksgiving duck, goose, or chicken.

Sometimes citizens of Mower County don’t want to cook a full Thanksgiving meal. If that was the case in 1956, they could go to Nelson’s Grill at 1011 West Oakland Ave. in Austin. According to the restaurant’s ad in the Nov. 22, 1956, issue of the Austin Daily Herald, diners could get “roast turkey with tomato juice or soup, dressing, cranberry relish, whipped potatoes and gravy, creamed peas and carrots, tossed salad, hot roll, pumpkin pie with whipped cream or hot mince pie, coffee, tea or milk” for just $1.65 or $0.85 for a child.

While some things have changed through the years, the message of being thankful during the Thanksgiving season has remained unchanged. Such was the case with Louise Retterath, Gary Byers, and Kathy Opstad, three Austin children in 1957. According to the Nov. 27, 1957, issue of the Austin Daily Herald, “Louise was born with a hole between the lower chambers of her heart,” “Gary […] had a congenital condition known as coarctation of the aorta,” and “Kathy […] had a spinal condition that troubled her considerably.”

All three children received life saving surgery that year. The article declared, “When these three families settle down to Thanksgiving Dinner Thursday they will be well aware that this holiday means more than filling yourself with good food.”

So this Thanksgiving, whatever your traditions are, make them memorable and the material about which future journalists can write.

And please do not allow too much hilarity when having a potato race.