Ok, now that I have some sauerkraut in me, let's see if I can squeeze in some small town celebration posting here. First, as always, I need to praise the source of that kraut and urge you to head to the Hallo Berlin cart yourself ASAP. Instead of just getting a bratwurst today I went all out and ordered a "single soul food" combination, which consists of 1 wurst of your choice, some fried potatoes, sauteed onions, and TWO different kinds of kraut (regular and red cabbage), with a crusty roll thrown in. Basically the traditional Alsatian dish choucroute garnie, Alsace being the germanest part of France (and where the germanic portion of my ancestry hails from). The identification of kraut with Germany is the reason Ackley, IA celebrates Sauerkraut Days instead of Bacon Days or something, because the majority of the town's population were of German heritage, though much like the Italian dish of spaghetti, sauerkraut originally came from eastern Asia (which is not too surprising a discovery if you're familiar with kimchi). There doesn't appear to be a Bacon Days anywhere, if you were wondering, though there is Bean and Bacon Days in Augusta, Wisconsin. They don't seem to like to talk about it much, though. My theory is that they wanted to have a Bacon Days, bacon being an exceptionally popular food which could bring a lot of attention and business to the town if properly celebrated, but then the local bean lobby got involved and managed to not only get beans added to the mix but even secured top billing for them. Now the townspeople are more than a little embarrassed by this travesty, so while they won't lie and do briefly mention that they have a four day Bean and Bacon festival in July if you ask, they certainly aren't going to take any pictures of it or otherwise publicize what might go on there.