A young girl in a potato field. (Photo courtesy of the Marquette Regional History Center)

MARQUETTE — If you’ve been wondering if you’ve seen the last tomatoes from your garden, or notice that your basil has already turned black, you are probably painfully aware of how short the U.P. growing season is. This has been a challenge since Europeans first settled here. Although hunting and fishing could meet many needs of early settlers, just as they did for the native Ojibwe, there was also a need for food that could be stored over the long winters- when ships could not reach town, and railroads were still decades away.

Enter the humble potato. Potatoes could be planted even before the last frost and could be stored in root cellars over the long winter. They contained enough vitamin C to prevent scurvy and enough calories to help sustain even a lumberjack in the winter woods. Early settlers planted them as soon as ground was cleared. By 1862 Amos Harlow was growing enough potatoes that he could sell 45 bushels to a local storekeeper. By the year 1900, there were 58 farms in Marquette County producing 100,000 bushels of potatoes annually.

Farmers have always been scientists, carefully tracking which varieties produce the highest yields, or repel pests most easily, or store best over the winter. They have also always shared their insights with each other. The Marquette County Agricultural Society was founded in 1885. In 1896 more than 2,000 U.P. farmers attended a two-day conference in Marquette, designed to bring the latest research from the Michigan Agricultural College (now MSU) to farmers who could not afford the time or expense to study in East Lansing.

The relationship between local farmers and the Agricultural College was solidified with the establishment of the research station in Chatham in 1899. The program accelerated when state and federal laws provided money for county agents. The Marquette County office opened in 1909 and these MSU Extension offices have played an important role in promoting agriculture ever since.

Meanwhile, the potato farmers were forming their own associations, starting at the county level and in 1914 creating the Cloverland Potato Congress to improve and promote local potatoes. Marquette held its first “Potato Congress” in the Guild Hall of the Episcopal church that year. A report on the 1914 Houghton County Potato Show noted that, “Twelve carloads to be sold to a swell Chicago restaurant at prosperity prices.” In 1916 a statewide potato show was held in Escanaba, although attendance was disappointing, and the Mining Journal suggested that if people wanted these shows in the future, they should show more interest in attending.

Potato shows soon became much more interesting. A look at the 1931 show illustrates just how much more interesting they became. The Mining Journal front page headline on October 21st ran across six columns, declaring “U.P. Potato Show Entries Set New Mark,” but that was only one of three articles about the show in that day’s paper. There were 325 exhibitors, including about 100 from boys’ and girls’ potato clubs. Cash prizes totaled $1,400. The show included the R.E. Olds Community Singing Contest, won by the Pelkie Choir, which sang Finnish and English hymns a cappella.

The singing contest was broadcast by WBEO, the Mining Journal radio station, as were all the other events on the last day of the show. This included the crowning of the U.P. Potato Queen, won by Louise Dainko of Stephenson, entered as “Miss Menominee County.” After the show, 17 bushels of potatoes that had been used in the grading contest were donated to the Salvation Army for distribution to poor families.

The potato shows continued to be a lively part of the Marquette calendar for decades to come. The 1937 queen, Leona Tousignant, won a diamond studded wristwatch in addition to a trip to Detroit to compete in the state contest. The October 27, 1952, Mining Journal had a front-page photo of Nancy Kivisaari of Negaunee being crowned Potato Queen (apparently carrying a potato bouquet) and an inside article announcing that Carol Koepp of Magnum was the 4-H potato growing champion of the year, with a yield of 683 bushels per acre. Carol repeated her victory in 1954. The champion that year was Paul Van Damme, winning for his fourth consecutive year, with a yield of 867 bushels per acre. The 1954 potato queen was Martha Mattila of Republic, one of 17 children of potato farmers William and Helvi Matilla.

By 1960 the local festival had been renamed the Harvest Festival, and included a General Motors industrial engineering show, a 4-H horse show, and a gem and mineral cutting and polishing demonstration. But there were still potato grower awards, potato baking contests, and a potato queen, Diane Linjala of Rock, was still crowned. The paper noted, however, that for the first time in 30 years, Miss Linjala would not be able to compete for the title of Upper Peninsula Potato Queen “since that title has been abolished in favor of supporting special potato baking contests.”

Although Marquette no longer hosts a Potato Show, prizes for potatoes are still awarded at the Marquette County Fair. U.P. potato growers also still gather to share tips and promote their products. On August 20th of this year, fifty potato growers and their families gathered at the VanDamme Farms in Rock for the annual Potato Field Day. They learned about current EPA rules for pesticides and herbicides and celebrated their long history as successful farmers in the U.P.’s challenging environment.