When it comes to potatoes … (Sept. 24)
By Chuck Doud
The Madera Tribune
Right now, in the town where I did most of my growing up, frantic preparations are under way for the annual potato harvest. In Shelley, Idaho, along Spud Alley, which parallels the railroad track, empty freight cars stand waiting. Inside the warehouses, stacks of burlap bags and flat boxes await filling. In some warehouses, some of the spuds from early digging may be going through the sorters, but there won’t be many of them.
The town is still getting over the excitement of Spud Day, held the third weekend in September.
It was huge. On Wednesday evening was the Miss Russet pageant, which had to be moved to the Hillcrest High School auditorium in nearby Idaho Falls, because nowhere in Shelley (population about 3,000) had enough seats.
The Tater Trot was Friday at the Shelley High School track.
Saturday began with a big pancake breakfast at the Senior Center, and that was followed by the Spud Run and Half Marathon, the Children’s Parade (I was in a few of those, riding my trike) and the great Spud Day Parade, which brings people from as far away as Firth and Woodville.
The biggest event, though, is always the free baked spud giveaway at the southeast park shelter.
If more people knew about this, they would come from a lot farther than Firth or Woodville. They would fly in from New York, New Orleans and San Francisco. Because nowhere else is it possible to get a baked potato that fresh or that good.
If you want to get one of those potatoes (but not baked) all you have to do is go to McDonald’s. Most of McDonald’s fries are cut from Russet Burbanks grown in the deep volcanic soils of the high valleys of Idaho, Washington and Oregon. But if you want a truly great baked potato, head up to Shelley.
