Potato salad is a Midwest staple, brought to the region by German immigrants. Sally Bromelkamp said that’s likely how it started for her family.

“My grandma was German, so it was a German recipe, probably passed down from her family. It was passed down from family to family, from mother to mother, and each kind of made it their own,” she shared.

Today, Bromelkamp is one of the caretakers of what’s, for decades, been a locally-famous recipe. Named MariLynn’s Potato Salad for her mom, people in the area enjoyed it at the Red Lantern restaurant in Postville, as well as at Tri City Golf Course, where it was also made by her Aunt Dorothy.

“When they closed the Red Lantern and my father passed away, my mom remarried and moved to Monona. My husband was the meat cutter at Wilke’s, and she asked him if he would want to put it in the deli there,” recalled Bromelkamp. “He said, ‘Sure, we’ll try it.’ So that’s kind of how it got started in the stores.”

“We did it at her house for a number of years. She had a kitchen in the basement that she had certified and inspected all the time. Then when they decided to sell their house and moved out to Garden View, we built a kitchen in our house. My husband wasn’t really too keen about it, but he let me do it, and it’s paid for itself and more,” Bromelkamp noted.

She took over operations in 2007, and estimates she’s made 130,000 pounds of potato salad from the small kitchen off her garage since then.

“I don’t know how much I made before because we made it at the Red Lantern and my mom’s house. I’ve been making it and helping with it a number of years,” Bromelkamp said. “But that’s a lot of potato salad.”

Although Bromelkamp takes individual orders, when Monona’s Quillin’s grocery store closed early this year, it left her without a regular retail location for MariLynn’s Potato Salad.

It’s also one of the items Quillin’s customers said they would miss most when the store closed. So Bromelkamp began investigating new locations to sell the beloved potato salad.

Now, it’s found a home at three area stores: By the Spoonful in McGregor, Wilke’s Marketplace in Elkader and Bender’s Foods in Guttenberg.

“They’re far enough apart that it’s reaching different people,” Bromelkamp said. “And they are all places where there’s people camping and going to the river or doing fun summer stuff.”

Bromelkamp, with help from two ladies, makes 40 to 80 pounds of potatoes into salad during the winter. She said that picks up considerably this time of year. Last week, for example, she did 160 pounds of potato salad.

“It gets more and more every week. Memorial Day weekend is always a big one, but once we hit Fourth of July, it’s like, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ Usually I have to make it a couple times that week, if not more. I don’t know what’s going to happen this year,” she said.

Bromelkamp begins preparing to make MariLynn’s Potato Salad on Wednesdays, assuring she has adequate supplies and that her kitchen is clean and prepped.

She’s then up by 3:30 a.m. on Thursday to start the process. Her first helper arrives between 5 and 5:30 a.m. to help her finish with the eggs, then another is there around 6 a.m. to help peel potatoes.

“We have so much help, and we know what we’re doing, so we’re usually done by 7, 8 o’clock,” Bromelkamp said. “I have had a variety of people to help me [over the years] because that’s a lot of potatoes to peel, and a lot of eggs.”

Bromelkamp delivers the potato salad later that day—much to the delight of customers around Clayton County and beyond.

When sold in Monona, Bromelkamp heard stories of people loading coolers full to take back home.

“And I’ve had other people say, ‘You know, my kids are coming, and they’re gonna go and buy some before they leave and take it back with them,’” Bromelkamp recalled. “I’m thankful that they all support me. That people enjoy it and that they’re buying it and using it for their families.”

Bromelkamp said she’s never grown tired of making potato salad, calling it a good retirement job for herself and her friends. She’s happy to pass the recipe on to her own daughters, Kim and Kelly. Her nieces also have it.

When others ask what the extra special ingredient is that sets MariLynn’s Potato Salad apart, Bromelkamp’s answer is simple: “It’s just the love of doing it, you know? Of serving people and the community.”