by April Scheinoha
Reporter
He may be a newbie to the Pennington County Fair, but he’s not a newbie when it comes to krumkake. Thief River Falls resident Nick Tretter proved it when he entered his krumkake into the fair last year.
Tretter and other open class entrants will soon be analyzing the Fair Premium List, which appears in this week’s Times. They will be picking their entries, and, in a little over a month, the judges will rate their entries.
For Tretter, some encouragement from others led him to enter projects in the fair for the first time. About eight years ago, he began brewing his own homemade beer on a whim. He branched into wine and gave some to a neighbor. That act of goodwill led to an entry in the category of homemade wine and beer about a couple years ago. Brewing beer and wine takes time – anywhere from four weeks to years. Don’t count on Tretter to enter any beer or wine this year. It’s already been consumed.
Instead, Tretter will be entering krumkake. “It’s just something I grew up with,” he said.
Last year marked the first time that Tretter entered krumkake in the fair. He questioned whether it would even make it to the judge’s table after hearing the remarks some people uttered upon seeing the Norwegian waffle cookies. The krumkake survived judging and the fair. Once the fair was over, the krumkake disappeared in short order.
Tretter has been making krumkake and other Scandinavian goodies for decades. Krumkake was the first thing he ever made with assistance from his mom. He was about 3 at the time.
Tretter plans to make krumkake again this year and he may also make some lefse. Time will tell how his entries fare.