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Hans Richter, an "institution" in the concession stand at Johnson Park in New Ulm the past nine years, says it's the last year for him.
Richter retired a few years ago from his printer's job at Kemske Paper Company.Now when he isn't at home whittling out some wood design, Richter is at the ball park concession stand.
The hours Richter has donated to the concession business over the years are endless.He's at the park, three, four and even five nights a week. And he's there in the daytime, too, doing inventory, ordering supplies, checking in vendors, etc.
Richter has become an expert at the concession business. The rest of the baseball board members rely on him to do the ordering. And while Hans is there almost every game, the rest of the board members take turns working in the stand.
RUNNING the stand requires all sorts of know-how: keeping the popcorn machine popping, the coolers cooling, the peanuts and Schell's well stocked (Pepsi too), etc.Occasionally, Hans ventures out of the concession business to do other things for the betterment of baseball.
A few years ago, he spent many days at Johnson Park to rebuild the scoreboard and paint it. He had some help, but it was mostly his time. New Ulm is one of the few area parks with an electronic scoreboard for balls, strikes, outs, etc., and fans here expect it to be functioning.
Richter took over the concession stand operation after Richard Hesse stepped down. Since then, the baseball board has concession rights at Johnson Park.
WITH BASEBALL crowds rather slim today compared to years ago when fans by the thousands flocked to Johnson Park, concession profits have become very important in keeping the baseball association in the black.
"We operate on a 30 per cent margin,"said Richter.
From the net profit, the city of New Ulm takes 25 per cent as its "cut" for use of the facility. The rest of the profit is used by the association to keep the Brewers and Kaiserhoff teams operating: balls, bats, umpires, transportation, etc.
The concession stand hit its peak two years ago as it was open 96 times that spring and summer. Last year, the stand was open 80 times and it may be a bit less this year, said Bud Richter, Hans' son who also is one of the mainstays in the con-cession stand.
The stand is opened for high school, Legion, VFW, amateur teams or whatever is going on at Johnson Park.
THE BIG profit day was July 4 fireworks program that drew 5,000 people. Richter's crew reported early that afternoon to get ready for the big concession night. Those profits are earmarked for a new set of uniforms for 1977.
Things are slowing down at Johnson Park. The Kaiserhoff appears strong enough to be playing more playoff games here, but the Brewers will have no more home games if they lose tonight at Sleepy Eye.
To Hans, it means easing into retirement. The 69-year-old concessionaire says he wants to spend more of his summer time at his lake cabin.
Other board members are protesting, though.They want Hans around to run the stand again in 1977. Good men are hard to find.
New Ulm Daily Journal
Aug. 1, 1976