Remembering the Thompsons and their popcorn business

From staff reports

Whether we tuck in for a winter’s night of DVD-watching or make the snowy trek to one of the area’s theaters or cinemas, we can’t consider our experience “complete” without some hot, buttered popcorn and a frosty beverage. It’s a time-honored tradition. — Submitted by Pat Stinson, movie-and-popcorn lover and Glen Arbor Sun contributor.

Photos courtesy of Mr. Empire, Dave Taghon

(Reprinted by permission, Empire Area Heritage Group. From “Some Other Day: Remembering Empire,” pages 38-39.)

By Fernette Frehse Walls

One of the smallest business concerns of the village of Empire was the popcorn business. It was owned and operated by Clarence and Etta Thompson. Clarence will always be remembered as “Tompy.” Tompy was probably the shortest man in town but his size was no deterrent to his ambition.

They produced their own popcorn, husked and shelled it by hand, and knew exactly where to store it so that it always popped. Tompy did the popping over a kerosene stove burner in a large wire corn popper, which hung from the ceiling of the popcorn wagon by way of a bale on the popper and a hook in the ceiling. Etta did the buttering, sacking, and selling. She used genuine butter, and the corn was buttered right down to the last kernel in the sack. The price of a good sized sack was 5 cents.

The wagon was an enclosed box with windows that opened all around, mounted on a buggy chassis. There was plenty of room inside for both of them. The means of mobility were not reckoned in horsepower but in a man power — one man power, Tompy himself. He had made for himself a leather harness which he wore and hooked it onto the thills, between which, ordinarily, a horse would be hitched. He moved it like this from his home to a spot in front of Bowen’s Barbershop, next to the bank. They never missed a Saturday night through spring, summer, and fall in all the years that they had it. They also had a place allotted them at the Benzie-Leelanau Fair Ground, and they made a trip to the Old Settler’s Picnic every year. For the trip to the Old Settler’s picnic, they hired a horse from Mike Horen’s livery barn.

The money they realized from this business was deposited in a separate account to be used for the purchase of an automobile. The day finally came when they bought a bright, shiny black and brass Model-T Ford.