Mark your calendars and keep your eye out for the big tents near the crossroads of Highway 71 and 23; it’s about to be show time at Mills Ford Chrysler.

Join us for our “HomeGrown” event, running July 16 – 23, and enjoy food and beverages made by Willmar area businesses. Re-connect with old friends and make some memories while enjoying plenty of local entertainment and food from Wick’s Meat Shoppe and The Oaks at Eagle Creek. Willmar High School choir and Grace Place of Willmar will be serving at the event, so be sure to say hello.

 

Here's a quick summary of events:

  • Saturday, July 16: Come hungry, leave happy. Brats and hot dogs from Wick’s Meat Shoppe will be served from 11 – 2 PM.
  • Tuesday, July 19: Bring the family out from 12 – 6 PM for food, drinks, music, carnival games and inflatables, and a bike drawing.
  • Wednesday, July 20: Come out from 12 – 6 PM for the antique tractor show and sweet corn feed.
  • Thursday, July 21: It’s Ladies Night, so grab your girls and head out to the “Heels and Wheels” event from 6 – 8:30 PM. Create your own masterpiece with guidance from the Traveling Art Pub, and enjoy appetizers and wine catered by The Oaks at Eagle Creek Golf Club. CLICK HERE to register and buy tickets ($35). Registration begins at 6 PM.
  • Friday, July 22: Top off our week of fun with a classic car show, live music, and food supplied by Wick’s from 4 – 8 PM. The Oaks at Eagle Creek will provide a beer garden. CLICK HERE to RSVP for the events, and indicate T-shirt sizes.

Mills Automotive will also feature sales and service specials July 16-23 at Mills Ford Chrysler and Mills Auto Center. They include complimentary Weather Tech front floor mats with vehicle purchase, $250 Mills Automotive gift card with your trade, free tire rotation with oil change, free air-conditioning check-up and free alignment check. See service advisors or sales consultants at each dealership for more information.   

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Wick’s Meat Shoppe of neighboring Kandiyohi is well-known in the Willmar area. After all, it’s been in business nearly 50 years.

Mark and Lisa Stahl are the current owners. Mark joined the staff in 1987, then bought the business in 1991 from the original owners, Dean and Shirley Wick, who started it in 1967. Dean passed away in 1999. Shirley lives in Willmar. “She still checks in on me once and a while to make sure I know what I’m doing,” Mark said with a laugh.  

In its early days, Wick’s only did custom beef and hog butchering for local farmers. Mark expanded to retail meats in about 1991, then added a wholesale division in 1997 that now serves 15 local-area stores. Lisa does the bookkeeping and occasionally works the retail counter.   

Wick’s is also well-known for its award-winning meats, having won top honors in competitions of the Minnesota Association of Meat Processors, which includes South Dakota and North Dakota. Mark competed until 2007, followed by a three-year stint as a judge. Flavor and general appearance are the basic criteria for meat judging. After Mark stepped aside from competition and judging, Cody Madsen of the Wick’s staff now enters competitions. 

To keep adequate supplies for retail and wholesale customers, along with special events, Mark says he and Cody will make sausage five days a week. They operate four “all-natural” smoke houses. There are lots of days where they’ll smoke 1,000 to 1,500 pounds of meat per day.     

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What started in 1931 as the Willmar Golf Club is today The Oaks at Eagle Creek, owned and operated by Dave and Mary Baker. Its restaurant, special event venue and catering operation are located at the 18-hole Eagle Creek Golf Club in Willmar. 

Willmar Golf Club was founded in 1931 by D.N. Tallman whose farm property was used to build Willmar’s first nine golf course. That same year the course hosted the first Lakeland Golf Tournament, which recently celebrated its 86th anniversary.

In 1962, nine holes were added to the course. The Willmar Golf Club managed both the restaurant and country club until leasing the food and beverage business privately in 1989 to Mike and Mar Dols. It was renamed The Blue Heron on the Green. They expanded the building to have an “event center” as well as reconstructing an outdoor deck into a large bar/lounge area and naming it The 52 Club. 

In 1996 the Willmar Golf Course changed its name to Eagle Creek Golf Club. Eight years later the Bakers took over the lease and renamed the restaurant The Oaks at Eagle Creek. In 2010 they added a large outdoor deck overlooking the back nine holes, and in 2014 the Bakers remodeled the entire facility.   

With both the restaurant and beverage cart on the course, The Oaks has nearly 60 employees.  The menu includes locally grown produce, wines, and craft beers as well as the products from Willmar’s Jennie O Turkey Store and other local businesses. 

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There’s no better way to celebrate summer than with this traditional summer event, so grab your friends and family and get ready for a week of fun activities, delicious food, and classic cars.