Great Frontier Meats now producing Heier Meat Market bratwurst

HECLA − Fans of Heier Meat Market's bratwurst can once again find it. The owners of Great Frontier Meats in Hecla purchased the recipe for the popular smoked sausage and started providing it, once again, to Ken's Superfair Foods this month under the same original product label.

Great Frontier owner Gabrielle Pioske said she and her husband, Tom purchased the sausage recipe at the Heier Meat Market auction this summer. That auction was after the Hosmer business owner, Gerard Heier, died in April.

Heier previously operated the business with his brother, David, who retired two years ago. David Heier and his wife, Tilly, sat down with the American News Tuesday at Great Frontier Meats. He talked about his excitement at seeing the sausage produced once again and about its history, which dates back to his grandfather who developed the recipe in the early 1900s. That recipe was brought to the U.S. from Germany, where they refer to the long sausage as a bratwurst.

Heier said the meat was originally a product made in the garage at home and didn't become a business until his father opened Heier Meat Products in 1966 in Hosmer. David and Gerard took over the family business in 1976 after their father died.

Still, their products were wildly popular. Heier said they shipped to every state in the union except Hawaii and New York.

While he and Tilly talked about continuing the business after Gerard died, the work was just too much. So, they closed and sold the business and different elements of the business, like this sausage recipe, at auction. David said he's glad the Pioskes were successful bidders at the auction for the recipe.

"They've got a good reputation," he said.

The Heiers and the Pioskes have also worked together to make sure the finished product made by Great Frontier Meats, is the same sausage customers are used to.

Tom Pioske said the recipe itself isn't hard, but the smoker used by the Heier family was much different than his smoker, so the key was fine tuning the smoke time.

"We had one crack at it," Pioske said. "We wanted to make sure we got it right."

Gabrielle Pioske said the response has been overwhelmingly positive with calls for orders already coming in by phone at the Hecla store and a good response from customers at the six Ken's locations in South Dakota. Those stores are in Aberdeen, Groton, Eureka, Clark, Britton, Ipswich and Groton.

Ken's store manager Paul Vetch said they got their first Heier sausage order on Nov. 4, which was intended to stock the shelves at all the stores, but it was sold out in Aberdeen within 24 hours. The next week's order, made it to all the stores, but was sold out before the end of the week.

Vetch, who is from Hosmer, said he was glad to see Great Frontier Meats was the successful bidder for this recipe, which was one of six sold that day.

"My fingers were crossed that they would get the high bid," he said.

Vetch didn't want to see the recipe go to an out-of-state company and Ken's already had an existing business relationship with the Great Frontier Meats.

That relationship is also one of several relationships they have with area businesses including sausage produced by two other area companies − Kauk's Meat Market in Eureka and L&L Meat Market in Long Lake.

Tom and Gabrielle Pioske purchased Frohling Meats in Hecla in 2015. Since then the name of the store has evolved from Frohling Quality Meats to Great Frontier Meats. In recent years they purchased The Butcher Block in Oakes and recently sold it to one of their employees Dalton Scheuring, who operates it as The Butcher Shop.

Gabrielle Pioske said over the years they were aware of the products produced by Heier Meat Market and heard from customers who were disappointed when the Heier Meat Market closed so they looked into acquiring the recipe, she said, and the product has been welcomed back by customers not only in South Dakota, but other parts of the country as well.

Summit secures more than 50% of necessary easements in S.D.

Summit Carbon Solutions is making progress on the property easements needed for its carbon dioxide sequestration pipeline. Company officials announced this week that 50% of the easements needed in South Dakota have been secured and Chief Commercial Officer Jim Pirolli said more easement agreements continue to be signed.

This announcement comes on the heels of Summit announcing that more than 50% of the easements had been secured for the entire project, which is a $4.77 billion pipeline that runs through five states − Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota and Nebraska. The entire pipeline is 2,057 miles long.

The goal is to reduce the carbon dioxide emissions from 32 ethanol plants along the route. In an interview with the American News, Pirolli said carbon dioxide emission at ethanol plants have already been reduced by 50% through efforts at each of the plants, and this pipeline would reduce emission by another 50%. The pipeline would be used to take the carbon dioxide that's produced at the plants and ultimately sequester it under ground in North Dakota.

Some counties have a much higher easement rate. In Clark County, 86% of the easements have been signed; 88% of the Kingsbury County easements have been signed; and 68% of the Edmunds County easements have been signed.

Pirolli said the easement process is ahead of schedule, but working toward the goal of having a hearing before the regulatory agencies like the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission in the spring so construction can begin in early summer 2023 with the pipeline operational in 2024.

News and notes

• Northern State University and Aberdeen's One-Legged Pheasant have partnered together on the development of a new brew, Alpha Lager. Not only is this partnership raising scholarship funds for Northern students, but NSU senior Kennedy Davis is interning at One-Legged Pheasant and learning about the brewing process.

• Nominations are now open for the Aberdeen Area Chamber of Commerce Community Champions Awards. Nominations are due Jan. 13. Awards will be given Feb. 14. Nomination information can be found at https://aberdeen-chamber.com/events-programs/community-champions-awards-luncheon.

• Julie Brownell of American Bank and Trust in Aberdeen has been recognized as one of seven top loan originators through its home ownership loan program.

• Sarah Jensen has been promoted to agricultural banker at Dacotah Bank.

• The Claire Taylor-Sherman Endowment and the The Beth Reitz-Walth Education Endowment, both established through the Aberdeen Public Schools Foundation, will provide scholarships to students. The Sherman endowment, established with an initial gift by her siblings, will provide scholarships for students with academic excellence and financial need. The Reitz-Walth scholarship is for seniors exhibiting excellent character, academic excellence and plan to pursue an education degree with an emphasis on special education/speech pathology.

• Amy Frink has been awarded the SRA membership designation by the Appraisal Institute.

• The Arts for State Building program is taking submissions from local artists until March 20, 2023. The complete request for proposal and instructions for using the online submission platform are posted at https://artscouncil.sd.gov/directories/artstatebldgs.aspx. Call 605-773-3301 or email sdac@state.sd.us with questions.

• Justin Fraase, Northern State University's vice president of enrollment, communications and marketing, has accepted position as senior director of strategic communications at the University of Iowa. He begins his new position in January 2023.

• Businesses are invited to participated in the Aberdeen Chamber of Commerce holiday lighting and decorating contest, sponsored by the Enhance Aberdeen Committee. Interior and exterior decorations will be considered. Exterior photos of businesses should be submitted by Dec. 1 to info@aberdeen-chamber.com. All nominees will be posted for public viewing at aberdeen-chamber.com/events-programs/holiday-lighting-contest. Public voting is Dec. 5-9 with winners announced by Dec. 16.

This article originally appeared on Aberdeen News: Great Frontier Meats now producing Heier Meat Market bratwurst