Please purchase a subscription to read our premium content. If you have a subscription, please log in or sign up for an account on our website to continue.

Please log in, or sign up for a new account to continue reading.

Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.

Welcome! We hope that you enjoy our free content.

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribe purchase a subscription to continue reading.

Thank you for reading! On your next view you will be asked to log in to your subscriber account or create an account and subscribe purchase a subscription to continue reading.

Thank you for signing in! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.

Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.

Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.

Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.

Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.

Thank you for reading! We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content.

Checking back? Since you viewed this item previously you can read it again.

Abundant sunshine. High 74F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph..

A clear sky. Low 46F. Winds light and variable.

Where there’s smoke ... there’s chicken. At least at the Red Rooster Days chicken barbecue, billed as the largest in the state. It’s 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5, at the Dassel Ball Park.

Looking for a Labor Day run or walk? Head to Dassel for the Red Rooster Days’ 5-Mile Run and 1-Mile Walk/Run on Monday.

What’s a parade without candy? A young boy does his best to satisfy the crowd along the Red Rooster Days parade route by tossing a handful of sweets. This year’s parade is at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3.

Where there’s smoke ... there’s chicken. At least at the Red Rooster Days chicken barbecue, billed as the largest in the state. It’s 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 5, at the Dassel Ball Park.

Looking for a Labor Day run or walk? Head to Dassel for the Red Rooster Days’ 5-Mile Run and 1-Mile Walk/Run on Monday.

What’s a parade without candy? A young boy does his best to satisfy the crowd along the Red Rooster Days parade route by tossing a handful of sweets. This year’s parade is at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 3.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was covering the Memorial Day program indoors at Faith Lutheran Church in Hutchinson, and now it’s Labor Day weekend.

To me, this three-day weekend marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall. It’s not official, but it sure feels like that with a bit of a nip in the air, school is in session and the return of high school football.

If you’re looking for something to do, many folks will head to St. Paul for the Minnesota State Fair. If you’re clucking about traffic, parking and crowds, consider staying local. The best place to spend the weekend? Red Rooster Days in Dassel. It’s four days of fun — Friday through Monday, Sept. 2-5.

Chris Hansen has served as chairman of the Red Rooster Committee for 26 years. He took a break in there for a couple of years, but otherwise, he’s been front and center working with more than 120 volunteers to make the the four-day festival a success.

When asked what the most popular event of the weekend was, Hansen said there was only one answer — the barbecue chicken dinner served 10:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday.

“We serve 2,000,” he said. “Over the years we did twice that. The last 10 years, we probably served in that 2,000-2,500 range.”

It’s rain-or-shine for the “largest chicken barbecue in the state.” It’s served outdoors at the Dassel Ball Park, 815 Second St. The pits are lit about 6:45 a.m. or so and the chicken halves go on the grill when the coals are ready. The smell of barbecued chicken wafts through the air making it a powerful incentive to stay for lunch. And in case you’re wondering what’s on the menu, it’s chicken with all the fixings including potato salad, coleslaw, bread, milk and coffee. The price is $13. The chicken dinner is a fundraiser for the festival, with a large part of the proceeds going to support the ambassador program.

New this year is Family Fun Day, 2-5 p.m. Sunday, at the corner of U.S. Highway 12 and Third Street North. It features kids pedal pull, 4-H petting zoo, cornhole tournament, bouncy houses, games and food trucks.

“It’s sponsored by the ambassadors and local businesses,” Hansen said. “Free admission.”

Also new this year is the Dassel Fire & Rescue Waterball Tournament at 3 p.m. Sunday. It’s a water fight at the Dassel Fire Department, 425 Second St. Interested in participating? Register before the event on Sunday.

Athletes, weekend warriors and just-for-fun folks can participate in the 7-mile and 18-mile bike rides beginning at 9 a.m. in Breed’s Park. Register online at Dassel.com.

A big draw is the Grande Day Parade 2 p.m. Saturday. It traditionally attracts anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 people who line the parade route, which starts at Fifth Street to William Avenue, to Willis Street to Lake Avenue.

Afterward head to Gethsemane Lutheran Church for a bite to eat for a barbecue, dessert and ice cream social. From there, it’s the ambassador coronation 6:30 p.m. at Dassel Ball Park. Admission is a freewill donation.

Another favorite event is the fireworks — rain or shine — 9:30 p.m. Sunday at Spring Lake Park. What sets this fireworks show apart from others is that it’s paid for by an endowment fund that Hansen and Dale Grochow, Hansen’s co-chair for many years, worked to establish it in 1999.

If you prefer a run to get your blood moving, pencil in on your calendar the Red Rooster Run/Walk 8:30 a.m. Monday at Dassel Ball Park. There are two distances: 1 mile run/walk and 5-mile run. Register at Dassel.com or the day of the event beginning at 7 a.m.

This event is a long-time Red Rooster Days activity. This year marks the 41st year of the run/walk. It was added to the Red Rooster festivities as a 10K/Fun Run in 1981. Fifty-eight runners participated in that inaugural 6.2-mile event. It was changed in 1995 to a 5-mile run and a 2-mile walk. While the 5-mile run has remained a fixture in the Monday schedule, the 2-mile walk was reduced to 1-mile in 2000.

What goes around, comes around in the form of contributions to the festival, which are returned to the community. Hansen said the festival committee has distributed about $110,000 to Dassel-area projects. For example, $200 went to the Dassel Public Library to buy children’s books; $1,000 went to purchase a new sign for the Dassel Community Cemetery; $21,150 was invested in the fireworks endowment fund; and $1,000 went to help with the cost of resurfacing the Highway 12 Bike Trail.

Planning for the annual event begins in January with meetings. Past events are reviewed and new attractions are considered.

“Over the years, we used to have a carnival,” Hansen said. “We did raffles. We used to do bingo. We once had a water ski show. Everything has evolved. What has been part of Red Rooster Days is baseball. We hosted the state tournament in 2005, 2016 and we’ll be hosting next year for the 100th anniversary.”

Thanks to author Maribel Gilmer, Red Rooster historian, the festival’s history has been collected for posterity in the book, “Through the Years 1959-2019: The Red Rooster Celebration in Dassel.” It is available for purchase at the Dassel History Center.

According to her records, it all started in the fall of 1958 when several men attended a meeting for DeKalb Hatchery at Redwood Falls. They were served a lunch of barbecue chicken. They liked it so much, they asked for the recipe. It was written on a piece of cardboard.

Since Dassel was the only town in the area without a festival, the barbecue chicken became the basis for their new event.

According to Gilmer, the name Red Rooster Day was chosen for a couple of reasons.

“One was, the fact that Dassel billed itself as ‘the seed corn and chick center of the northwest.” There were three major seed corn companies and two big chicken hatcheries in Dassel. ... Reason number two — Red Rooster was born because chicken was to be served, and because of a story Dean Gayner shared with the committee. When he was young, he raised Rhode Island Red chickens for a few years. The story goes that he kept a rooster as a pet in a cage down in the basement. His family apparently couldn’t take the sun-up crowing every morning, so the rooster had to go. Following this discussion, it was decided that Red Rooster Day be used as the official title of the celebration. The original logo, a rooster standing on a cob of corn, was used to publicize the event.”

For those with long memories, Red Rooster Days started as a one-day event on Sunday, Sept. 6, 1959. Tickets for the chicken dinner were $1.50, with all the trimmings. Folks came after church with everyone arriving at the same time. Serving number estimates ranged from 500 to about 2,000. Gilmer wrote it was determined to be a very successful first year.

It became a three-day festival in 1983 and a four-day extravaganza in 2003. In these days of instant communication and speed-of-light information, there’s something special about the staying power of a festival that’s 63 years old.

“It’s a fun time,” Mayor Ron Hungerford said in an earlier Litchfield Independent Review interview. He moved to Dassel with his wife, Rebecca, in 1994 when he retired from the Navy, and began volunteering at the chicken barbecue. “There are people who have been doing this a long time. The institutional knowledge here is incredible. That’s what makes it all work so well.”

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. By continuing to use the site, you accept our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. OK