... She actually called it the "oleo run"

My Grandma was a very faithful Catholic, and would NEVER break a law, except...

Margarine was ILLEGAL in Wisconsin, when I grew up. Drinking beer as a kid with your parent WAS legal, but I digress...

You east coasters might be familiar with "Pedro" and his billboards, "South of the Border", just over the line in South Carolina.


Fire works

Same kind of deal in the southern half (as I recollect) in Beloit, Wis / Beloit Ill.

There were many warehouse - type stores in Beloit, Ill selling "oleo" in bulk. I felt like a boot-legger, lol My dad was a Federally, and that made it so much better for me, as I KNEW he was so uncomfortable doing it, even as a young lad, I got the "vibe".

Anyone else remember the "oleo runs?" Oh, and I remember you had to squeeze together some ugly purple / red / blue (I forget) shit to make your oleo / margarine-- All of it apparently the results of the best thinking of the dairy lobby to try and stop the onslaught of fake butter.... If you don't have any clue of which I speak, chalk it up to some weird/ possibly cool Wisconsin trivia.

Never made a "oleo run" but I have heard of similar type and goofy laws of that time era or before that earlier in the century.

You know.. all those laws that made so much logical sense. lol.


The only run similar I had was to Auggie's Palace in Westboro, WI, one in which he would rather openly sell to minors. $4 for a case of bottled Old Milwaukee.. with a $1 return for the bottles and box. Every couple weekends we would gather all the empties.. pile them in a pickup, an made the Auggie run. A pickup truck stacked 4 high from front to back it seemed with thick cardboard double flapped boxes of beer and not a damn one of us even 18.. lol. The two local high schools kept that tavern afloat for an extra decade or two, until his fines outweighed the profits that is. Bar was a dive.. partical board floors, dim lighting and a odor that you could stand just long enough to close the deal.

For visual aid.. a dumpy old trailer house with a room built off the back door on stilts.. honest as the day is long that business stayed open for almost 30 years in the same makeup. Crazy old bastard he was.. but he sure didn't like the minor laws upon beer.

---

Wow,my hometown is a thread=d> =d> =d> Actually it was South Beloit that was your destination for your oleo sumggling.We did it all the time too.My Grandma in LaCrosse liked to bake with it.We also picked up Grandma a couple of gallons of Southern Comfort as the price was lower because of less tax on booze in Ill. The only positive I have ever been able to come up with about the Flatlands.😝 😝

---

Oh, man, I had forgot about those days when margarine was illegal.

Though we also had home milk delivery...in glass bottles. And a paper boy who tore off these little "receipts" about the size of McDonald's monopoly tickets. I remember when the 16 oz coke bottle was the "big" one. When a glass of beer was in a seven-ounce glass for a quarter, and so was a gallon of premium gas. When none of the "summer places" on a lake had indoor plumbing. When there was only one kind of Slim Jim, and it was spicy. When "organized sport" didn't start until seventh grade. When we burned our garbage in an old water heater shell in the back yard. When Frank Gifford was a reasonably good announcer and runner of highlight film and Ray Scott was the play-by-play person to set the standard. When cars didn't have air conditioning.

When I had this hot, hot girlfriend, a metallic blue 1968 Chevelle 327 with a sweet "Starsky and Hutch" stripe, and a lifetime of potential ahead of me.

When .... GD it, foster, now I want to punch something.

...back to !@#%!#%@ grading I go.

---

Man, remembering those "Oleo" runs made me feel old. Hell, I am old. We used tp pack up the old Dodge and head down from Milwaukee about twice a month to get some bootleg Oleo. Then on the way back my sister and I would squish the packages around to mix up the artifical coloring jell in them. If one package broke then we'd let my little brother play with it.

I wonder if that's why he hates margarin to this day? Jeez, sis and I warped the poor kid. No wonder he became a college professor.

---

I remember them!!!
And the color packets that you used to make the colorless oleo turn to wierd colors.
I remember as a kid thinking, "Who wants to eat BLUE or RED stuff that's supposed to make you thimk it's BUTTER?"
We lived on the south side of Milwaukee, and drove to "ILLY-NOISE" to get it.

And i also remember the "Bordens" truck delivering milk to our house.

Thanks for the memories Dfoster!

---

I was at a meeting last summer in Kenosha. The old time locals were talking about the runs. they said some person who make the run for the whole neighborhood.

One guy told how the local state trooper pulled him over one very hot summer day and talked away for about a half hour. Oleo in the truck was melting the whole time. After the trooper felt it was long enough he let him go. Never inspected the car. Never accused him of any thing.

Living in Central IL, I never experienced them but I remember people talking about the runs after I moved to Northern IL in the early 70's.

Even as a kid I thought it was a stupid law.

---

Sounds interesting. I can't understand why someone would even want margarine. Butter is so much better.

---

cheaper.

---