Harold and Mary Hinkle still have a surprise or two up their sleeves They arrived in Beautiful Downtown Mitchell around 11:30 in the morning, meeting Jerry Hinkle at the parking lot of the Mitchell Public Library, which is the current home office of the Holabird Advocate. Harold then set about rotating the tires of Jerry's car.

     After the rotating was done, They took Jerry to Walgreen's to show him the bargain price the store had for milk. Problem was, that when they got there, it was discovered that the milk was no bargain, in fact it was 50 cents more than the milk at Buche Foods. No milk was bought that morning, but they did meet the guy who rent's Agnes Hahn's old house.

     Ken And Jo Hansen joined the Hinkle's at the Depot a little later than the prearranged 1 pm time, but better late than never. Jo presented Jerry with a dozen chocolate pecan brownies, and the group started to remember the first, and last, time they were all together at the Depot. Eventually the server brought over everyone's respective vittles, and they started to eat. After the dinner was over, Mary surprised Jerry with a Chocolate cake with Chocolate frosting. His 46th birthday would not have been quite as festive had she not have done that.

The last surprise came at the time Jerry drove home later that evening when the "check tire pressure" warning came on. Jerry reset the computer to make sure though, and it hasn't happened since.

In this economy, we all have to cut something. So Effective Aug 1, we are going to put the Holabird Advocate Blogger site, the site you are reading now into mothballs. We might have a Special Report now and then as events warrant, but as is happens so often our Publisher is experiencing burnout. Those of you who are regular Readers know this, and it isn't fair to allow you to expect the usual quality of writing when it clearly isn't going to happen. We will be concentrating on our Facebook site for the present time. This site has been a labor of love for all of us here at the Holabird Advocate, and as such will never go away completely. If you have not "liked" our page on Facebook, we encourage you to do so. Sometimes when times change we have to change with them, and hope for better days. Thanks to all of you Readers in advance for past 11+ years of fun. It's not over yet, just moving to a new location!

     Thursday afternoon was a very warm, windy, and sunny day. Just right for a ribbon cutting. Our Publisher, who has never attended such an event, decided it was time to do just that. It was an insteresing ocasion.

Mike Dittmer is the proud owner of Deadwood Mike's Sportscards & Collectibles, a full service sportscards and collectibles shop dealing in sportscards for every sport, both single cars a packs of same. There are also with a variety of card storage options as well. Deadwood Mike's also has a selection of die cast Nascar, MLB hats, and other assorted collectibles. Also available are Xyience Energy Drinks, Sew Simply Farmer Girl, Baysinger Honey, and Advocare Products. Gift certificates are available as well. They accept checks, major credit cards, and even cash if you have it. All kids get free gum!

Deadwood Mike's is open from Tues-Sat. 9 am-6 pm Sun. 10 am-4 pm

All of us here at the Holabird Advocate wish them well in this venture.

Wind postponed the opening of the Thursday Farmer's Market, however the usual Saturday Farmer's Market went as planed. Holabird Advocate Publisher, Jerry Hinkle picked up a dozen eggs and 2 lbs of ground turkey from the Colony, and it only set him back $6.25. Next Thursday being Jerry's birthday, would be a great time to try it again!

Yesterday, the first batch of Twinkies have landed on store shelves all over the world. Time will tell if the next time around will be any improvement. As for me, I'm less them impressed. I went to Walmart to do a little comparison shopping. I discovered that not only does Little Debbie have there own version of the Twinkie, but so does Sara Lee. Not surprisingly, Walmart also has a knock-off version of America's favorite snack cake: the Cloud Cake.
I purchased a box of both Twinkies and Cloud Cakes. The new Twinkie is visibly smaller than the Cloud Cake, and it weighs less as well: 38.5 grams compared to the Cloud Cake's 80 grams. There is, to me at least, no difference in the taste and texture. The kicker is that the Cloud Cakes are 50 cents cheaper in the 10 count box.
We'll see if the change of management will help keep Twinkies on the shelves and in demand. I hope those of you who have missed Twinkies all this time are not disappointed. Don't you just feel sorry for those people who paid $1000 for the "last box" of Twinkies? I'd whole lot rather have a creme filled cupcake myself. God be with you and do the best you can!



     July has been a month of surprises for Holabird Advocate Publisher, Jerry Hinkle, but his luck, if indeed he has any, turned around-slightly. He was listening to the oldies station on the radio in the morning when the "Slogan Mania" quiz came on. He was the first person to call in that knew Kix Cereal had the slogan "Kid tested-Mother approved". The prize? A $5 gift certificate to The Depot. Jerry is taking this as a sign that this is the place to hold his birthday celebration. as it happens, they open at 11:30, which gives the hosts, Harold and Mary Hinkle ample time to get back to the Ponderosa where rumor has it, Darrel Hinkle will be cooking a picnic ham.

Thursday night is busting with things to do in beautiful downtown Mitchell. At the Corn Palace Tourist Plaza, the Mitchell Area Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon cutting for Deadwood Mike's Sportscards at 4:30. Also The Mitchell Farmer's Market will be open this Thursday and every Thursday until Sept 26 from 4:30-7 at the corner of 5th and Main. The Holabird Advocate will be at both events should anything newsworthy take place!

     All of us here at the Holabird Advocate were shocked to find out that the group that Brittany Hinkle and Christopher Nemec were a part of was not South Dakota Music Ambassadors, but Mid West  Ambassadors of Music. but, since nobody corrected us, we can only assume that nobody cares, but that's how it goes.

     Here is a photo of the Ambassadors at the Matterhorn in Switzerland. If you can pick out the two delegates for Holabird, you're doing better than our Publisher. Quite a group!  As we understand it they will be playing in Italy, Germany, and Greece before coming back home.

     We were working on a storyline, providing Holabird Advocate Publisher had the time off, about a surprise party for his birthday, which is coming up. The headline was going to read, had everything panned out, "Parents Throw Publisher to Have Surprise Party at Chef Louie's". The body of the story was going to relate that the party, while not a surprise to Jerry was going to be a HUGE surprise to his parents.

It would have happened, but for one detail. The party is at noon and Chef Louie's opens at 5pm. Jerry did get the day off from the Hut, so getting Jerry to the party will be easier. Finding a venue seems to be the tricky part. A lot of restaurants in the Kornfield County area are busy at noon on Thursday for some reason. Oh well, if they weren't busy they'd have to close.

     The Holabird Advocate Circulation Department has shown us some interesting data that on the surface is not that shocking. That being, at least in our Facebook audience, that there is absolutely nobody between the ages of 13-24. This is not necessarily bad news, as we don't cater to that age group, nor do we plan to. The audience is made up of about 60% female and 40% male. We could increase the male demographic if we got our Publisher to take of his tie, put on a cap and some jeans and learn how to belch louder. 

     The South Dakota Musical Ambassadors are still making their way across Europe. Some of them are not impressed by the wine out there. It took our Publisher 40 years to figure out the best wine, yet he still prefers chocolate milk. There have been reports that some of the Ambassadors were caught licking the Eiffel Tower. Harold Hinkle might have a frozen pump handle or two that these kids might like to try.

     Holabird Advocate Publisher, Jerry Hinkle, will be working 2 shifts at the Hut on the 237th Anniversary of the signing of the Declaration! he is hoping to slip on over to the picnic at Dakota Discovery to hear the band play in between shifts. Time will tell if he sees fireworks. If not a live display there is always the possibility of fireworks videos on YouTube! That's the beauty of the 21st century, one can be by themselves and still have a party!

With Holabird Advocate Publisher, Jerry Hinkle about to turn 46 in about 2 weeks time, Harold and Mary Hinkle, who conceived, and in part, gave birth to Jerry, have arranged their busy schedules to come to Mitchell and celebrate his birthday. It's been reported that they will be meeting Ken and Joan Hansen however that report has not been confirmed. The surprise part will actually be if Jerry shows up to this party, because he may have to work at the Hut. Also, they have to trick Jerry into showing up at the party venue without tipping him off. We'll have more on this story as events warrant!

 

     When our little Newsblog was founded back in 2002, It was to tell the world that there were stories to be told in the middle of nowhere. Believe it or not, many people in the world were blissfully ignorant of the existence of Holabird, SD until finding this website. Since we moved our operations from Holabird to Mitchell, we've become a little more sophisticated and uptown, but we will never forget our small town roots!

     Some time ago, Holabird Advocate Publisher, Jerry Hinkle, read the Daily Republic to see what they knew, and we spotted an article about the new grocery store in Tripp, SD. It's the fourth store of the Buche Foods chain. He read that Trip is a mere 35 miles away, about the same as a trip from the Ponderosa to Ree Heights. Since today is "Milk Monday" and Jerry had the whole day off, he decided a road Trip was in order to see the "Barn Burner Specials". Jerry did pick up a few bargains, but not before giving the store a good looking over. The store didn't appear to be busy, but it was mid morning. It was very clean as well. Perhaps he's been in the big city too long! Unlike most small town grocery stores that he's seen, this one takes credit cards. He went to the Gus Stop, but that didn't appear to be open, or even ready for business yet. When it is, that will be a good excuse to come back to Tripp!

     Jerry stopped in Parkston on the way back to the big city to get fuel. That seems like a nice little town as well. The ladies at the Casey General Store seemed to be impressed with Buche's as well. They also had nice things to say about County Fair in Mitchell. Jerry never asked and they never told about the grocery stores in Parkston. That could be another adventure for another time.

The South Dakota Musical Ambassadors have been putting on the miles since leaving for Europe. London was the first stop, where the group, including Holabird's own Brittany Hinkle and Christopher Nemec, performed at Wesley Chapel and the park.They were also able to see "Wicked and "The Lion King" Next stop is Paris!