Hormel family secrets to be revealed Monday

Published 7:31 am Friday, October 21, 2011

There’s a lot most people don’t know about Hormel family, according to a couple of local researchers.

Executive directors Dustin Heckman of the Mower County Historical Society and Laura Helle of the Hormel Historic Hormel have stumbled upon a lot about the Hormel family in their research, and they’ll share those findings 7 p.m. Monday at the Hormel Historic Home during “10 Things You Didn’t Know About the Hormel Family.” The event marks the first time the organizations will join for a membership benefit.

According to Helle, they have discovered new facts and some misconceptions, so they compiled them and eventually decided to make it into presentation. The findings relate particularly to Hormel Foods Corp. founder George Hormel and his son, Jay Hormel.

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“Most of the things, we were researching other things, other topics, and said, ‘gee, I didn’t know that,’” Helle said.

The event is free to members of either organization and is available to non-members for a $5 admission. Helle said every time she finds something new about the Hormel family its surprising because as HHH director, she works with their history every day.

“It’s kind of like Austin’s Kennedys,” Helle said. “They’re just fascinating.”

Heckman and Helle said some of the items were buried far in family histories and documents to which the general public wouldn’t have access. Heckman hopes that’s intriguing.

Heckman also announced some trivia on the radio this week. His clues: “Jay Hormel thought outside the box with this one. It went nationwide and is unique only to Mower County.”

Heckman said anyone who guesses the answer before the event will win a year-long membership to MCHS and HHH.