Make mine plain

La Crosse Tribune, Aug 07, 1998

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. -- When you eat at Pete's Hamburgers, you have a choice -- plain or with onions.

Forget about the lettuce -- they don't offer it. Don't ask for cheese -- they don't stock it. Don't expect a pickle -- there aren't any.

And don't look for a menu.

For 89 years, Pete's Hamburgers has had only one menu item. They sell hamburgers, grilled with water just as they were when Pete Gokey first set up his pushcart in Prairie du Chien in 1909.

In the nine decades that have followed, nothing much has changed. They are still grilling the hamburgers with water, they are still only open on weekends, and Gokeys are still flipping the hamburgers that are served.

And people are still flocking to the cart, located on the 100 block of West Blackhawk Avenue in Prairie du Chien.

It must be the hamburgers that bring them back because it can't be the ambience. There is little shade available and nowhere to sit but the sidewalk.

Jon Kalaher and Bruce Mayberry, both of Dubuque, Iowa, were camping in Bagley in July. They and their families made a trip into Prairie du Chien specifically to get hamburgers from Pete's.

"We actually stopped here just for this reason," Mayberry said as he sat in the shade on the sidewalk near the hamburger stand, munching on his first hamburger from Pete's.

"I've been here twice before," said Kahaler, who said the burgers are worth the extra drive.

Phyllis Gokey, daughter-in-law of founder Pete Gokey and wife of the late Robert Gokey, said it is mostly her grandchildren who keep the cart in business now -- Megan, Casey and Patrick Gokey. With a little help from friends and from manager Jill Bunders, they manage to keep up with the hungry weekend customers.

Like Phyllis, everybody in the Gokey family has flipped hamburgers somewhere along the way to growing up.

It has been a good way for Gokey kids to save money for college, Phyllis said, and all of her kids and grandkids have worked there. Fifteen-year-old Casey has graduated to working in the cart, but she had to put in her time peeling onions at grandma's before she moved up to flipping burgers.

"It's not the best thing to do, but you get used to it," said Casey, who was glad to turn the onion job over to her younger sister, Megan.

The cart has been a summer fixture that draws hamburger lovers back to Prairie du Chien.

Even Phyllis Gokey's kids are not immune to the charm of the family's hamburger stand.

"When my children come home, that's all they want to eat," she said.

Business is brisk on this hot Saturday in July, so Casey can't stand around talking for long. Her folks, Paul and Colleen Gokey, are grilling hamburgers, trying to keep up with the noon hour rush. The crowd seems equally split between onions and without.

Every once in a while, you get a newcomer to the cart. They are easy to spot, Casey said, because they will ask for a hot dog or something else besides a hamburger.

Not Diane Guttormsson, who was waiting in line with her daughter. Her mother, Ruth Roellich, lives in Prairie du Chien so Guttormsson knows the routine. It's a long wait, but these hamburgers just taste better, Guttormsson said.

Phyllis, who is watching from the shade, said people seem willing to wait for these burgers.

"They take them home or take them to the riverfront."

Pete Gokey started the hamburger stand with a little pushcart and umbrella in 1909. "Back in those days, he just went wherever there was a fair or carnival or event of some kind where people gathered," Phyllis said. "He would take his little pushcart and cook his hamburgers. Eventually, he built a trailer and had it on a street corner downtown. It's just been around for such a long time."