Thanks for the memories

As a kid, I used to deliver the St. Paul Pioneer Press morning paper to many homes and businesses around Kasson. I walked Main Street delivering to businesses like the bowling alley (yes, we did have a little bowling alley back in the day), hardware store and Daniel’s Restaurant.

I can still remember walking into Daniel’s entryway each morning, seeing all the folks having coffee and breakfast in the diner, seeing Dan behind the counter visiting and greeting everyone with a smile, and taking in the amazing smells of his homemade sweet rolls – oh those amazing homemade sweet rolls.

This is my earliest memory of Daniel’s Restaurant back in the late 70s. I remember it was always a treat for us kids when Mom and Dad would take us there too.

As I got into my teen years, a second Daniel’s location opened in Kasson – Dan opened Daniel’s Express in a building that stood where Home Federal is currently. This was a dine-in/drive thru burger joint with some amazing burgers and fries and a fun atmosphere for everyone. It was a great place for teens to work and a fun place for us to hang out and meet up with friends after school and on the weekends.

Then the current Daniel’s Restaurant was built along with the Northwoods Lounge (currently the 504). Rosie and I used to love going to the Northwoods and enjoy live music - acoustic music of all genres. It was just a cozy, comfortable place to meet up with friends. The Northwoods is where I announced my candidacy for Sheriff in 2014 surrounded by a couple hundred friends and supporters, it’s where our campaign meetings were held all year, and it’s where we had our nail-biter election night party with once again, a couple hundred friends and supporters. The restaurant has always been a favorite for all the locals to go for coffee and solve the world’s problems. My Dad used to love going there and meeting up with all of his fellow retired teachers for coffee. Our kids always enjoyed it when we took them to Daniel’s, like I did when I was a kid.

I loved going there for business meetings during the day, whether just coffee and one of their amazing sweet rolls, or for lunch.

A place where you knew all the servers by name, and they knew yours. It was also a favorite for our District 6 Sheriffs (13 southeast Minnesota county sheriffs) who enjoyed meeting there once a month – they all loved the sweet rolls too!

Daniel’s hosted many of our Sheriff’s Offi ce Christmas parties – closing to the public for an evening and really treating us to a special event with amazing food, atmosphere and great service.

I can’t forget to mention their famous Fish and Chips with all you can eat fi sh on Fridays - soooo good! Everyone has their favorite foods at the Dodge County Fair and Marigold Days – and nearly everyone I know always made a point to stop at least once during the event to say hi to the Gadient and Schmitz family and enjoy their amazing Fish and Chips. As I was growing up it was Dan and Margann and their kids greeting everyone. Then later it was their daughter Danielle and her adorable kids serving up their amazing food. Not often you get to see two generations serving a community like this.

Long story short, so many of us grew up with Daniels. It has always been a part of Kasson, in my lifetime anyway. Dan, Magann, Danielle and all the amazing people who have worked the past several decades have created amazing memories for all of us.

For 43 years, Daniels has played a huge role in helping make Kasson a warm, friendly, welcoming community that so many have grown up in and raised their kids in. Many restaurants and stores have come and gone over the years – Daniel’s was always the constant, that diner and restaurant that was synonymous with Kasson.

This week, Daniel’s will be open Wednesday thru Saturday, and then will close their doors and move on to the next chapter in their lives. Daniel’s will be sold, and hopefully another great family will come in and start another new tradition of food, friends and memories for years to come.

On behalf of my family and everyone at the Sheriff’s Office, we wish the Gadient and Schmitz family all the best, and thank them for all the great memories they helped provide to the Kasson-Mantorville area over the last 43 years. Make sure to stop by this week, enjoy some great food, and thank them for all their years serving our community. They will be dearly missed.

Your Sheriff, Scott

Scott Rose is in his second term as sheriff of Dodge County. He writes for this newspaper regularly.