Wishek Sausage stars at Pride of Dakota in Fargo

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) – The annual Pride of Dakota show at the Scheels Arena is always a big hit for the customers and the vendors.

“The Fargo area has always been really good to us, and really supportive of Pride of Dakota, and really supportive of local businesses.”

“As of 4 O’clock today, we’ve had over 12,000 people walk through the door.”

And it was no different for show-newcomer Wishek Sausage, as they prepared to make their debut.

“It means a ton to me, especially since the store was started by my grandpa, then my dad, eventually I’ll take it over here. So for me personally, it’s just so overwhelming with how much pride there is there. Very, very proud of how much it’s grown, how much it’s taken off.”

During both days of the show they had trouble keeping their sausage in stock, as their line backed up through the door.

“We spent about 6 or 7 weeks preparing, making sausage every single day, stockpiling it. And I think we finally did it right this time. We never ran out yesterday, we came close, but we never quite ran out yesterday. Doesn’t look like we’ll quite run out today, but we’ll come close again.”

The sausage is an old German recipe, made by hand, that has been in the family for generations, picked up back in the 60’s.

“It was actually started by Stan, my grandfather, back in 1962.”

“One of Stan’s partners brought it over to the Red Owl, and then they started working on it together. From there it just kind of took off and gained a little more popularity year after year.”

And if you missed your chance to check them out at this show, don’t worry, because they say they’ll definitely be back.