As promised, this week for Throwback Thursday we will learn a bit about one of Clear Lake’s Dairies and the Clear Lake “Milkman” who operated it. Enter August “Gus” Folkmann, born August 11, 1902 in Iowa County, Iowa. Mr. Folkmann grew up working on his father’s farm. He and his bride Louise moved to Clear Lake in the mid 1930s after their marriage in 1932. “Gus” as he was fondly referred to, operated a dairy farm in the area now known as Lions Field. The family home was located on the south part of the property with an address of 701 North East Street according the the street naming system of the time. In 1941, “Gus” purchased Bob Wilson’s dairy and supplied raw and pasteurized milk to his customers. His business grew and by 1946 he was building a new milk house. This new facility contained pasteurizing, bottling and cooling equipment. Prior to the completion of this new milk house, Mr. Folkmann had been operating his dairy out of the basement of his home on North East Street. Photos are Folkmann Dairy items at the Clear Lake Historical Society.
Folkmann’s Dairy was well-known in the community for Folkmann’s Dairy Delite, 
located on U.S. Highway 18 in Clear Lake. All ice cream malts, shakes, sundaes and cones were made from homemade ice cream from the dairy. Soft serve cones were only 25 cents and were considered “huge” by customers. This is an ad from an April 1959 edition of the Globe Gazette outlining some weekend specials.
Gus and Louise Folkmann made the decision to sell the dairy and ice cream business in the spring of 1968 to Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Veit. Attached is a notice in the March 30th edition of the Globe Gazette where the Folkmann’s thanked the community for their support.
The last photo was provided by Karen Belz, granddaughter of the Folkmann’s, who shared the photo of “Gus” next to one of his milk delivery trucks which was being made ready for a new paint job advertising Folkmann’s Shooting Supplies, a new adventure.
