7 Things That You Didn’t Think You Needed To Know About Owatonna
It's a uniquely named town that surrounds the Straight River in Southern Minnesota. It's name comes from the Dakota language for the Straight River, Wakpá Owóthaŋna. It's home to KRFO and KAT Kountry, it's our hometown of Owatonna. People claim they know all there is to know about Owatonna, but I bet you didn't know at least one of these 7 things.
1. Have you ever sliced into a plump, juicy Bushel Boy tomato? Every single Bushel Boy tomato is grown right here in Owatonna!
2. The city has helped to produced three popular bands: Cloud Cult (Craig Minowa, lead singer of Cloud Cult), Har Mar Superstar (Sean Tillman), and Owl City (Adam Young).
3. Viracon Inc., an Owatonna company, fabricated 800,000 square feet of glass for the windows of World Trade Center Tower One, also known as the Freedom Tower in New York City. Viracon also manufactured the glass for US Bank Stadium.
4. The movie Angus (1995) was primarily filmed at the Owatonna High School. The film stars James Van Der Beek and Charlie Talbert in their first film roles. Kathy Bates was also in the film!
5. Jostens, Inc., an Owatonna company, has produced specially commissioned rings for the World Series, Super Bowl, NBA Championship, and the NHL Stanley Cup. (I wonder if the Vikings will be getting some made this season?)
6. The popular game, Sequence, was invented by Owatonna native Doug Reuter in the 1970s. The game was originally called, "Sequence Five"
7. Over 300,000 people came to the Steele County Free Fair in 2017! That's more people than the populations of these US Cities: Cincinnati, OH, Anchorage, AK, Lincoln, NE, Buffalo, NY, and Madison, WI. Wow!
So let's be honest how many of these didn't you know?