Many of us can recall times that trick-or-treating was difficult, or even canceled, due to cold and snow. But a tornado?

It came seemingly out of nowhere, with very little warning. On Oct. 31, 2000, a tornado pummeled through the village of Oconto. It destroyed the community center and several downtown businesses, and damaged 40 homes. A Halloween party was being held at the community center, but thankfully there was advanced warning that severe weather was coming. That warning allowed the party goers to seek shelter in the basement and by the Grace of God all 19 children and four adults came out without a scratch.

“There were a few of us families that always got together with our kids and went trick-or-treating around town. Every year we took turns hosting, and since we didn’t live in town we hosted it at the community center,” said Oconto Fire Chief Cliff Badgley as he recalled the events of that night. “But the weather was starting to change on us. Then the pagers went off saying that some bad weather was coming in, so I told my wife and the other gals to stay there and not go anywhere.”

Badgley ran to the fire hall where a few other guys had already gathered in response to the page. “I jumped in the ambulance and Barry Gralheer jumped in with me and asked what we were going to do. I said we are going to go storm watch. He said it was too dark to see anything, but I said we have to go see if we can see something,” Badgley shared.

The pair headed out on Highway 40 and turned south at the Highway 40 and 21 interchange and that’s when at the Highway 40 and 21 interchange and that’s when they hit it. “We didn’t realize that we had probably just driven in front of the tornado itself, because we started down the highway and it was so windy. We thought we were at the second bridge, but we were still at the first one. The wind was blowing so hard that we couldn’t even tell how fast we were going. With the way the wind hit we called in and told them to blow the siren.”

Badgley said it was hard to tell where they even were and the two men knew the area like the back of the hands. After pulling down a gravel road they finally realized whose place they were at, but with the powe out there wasn’t even a yard light to guide them o to show them that place had just been hit. “We wer trying to spot the storm, and we could see another ce south of us in rotation so we went south on Highwa 21, and it kinda just quit. So we came back to town, an every street we tried to go down was blocked,” he recalled. “We got over just east of the Legion Hall and w were told the community building had been hit. I aske if everybody was alright and they said yes. And that when I called Custer County and told them we were going to need some assistance, because we had been hi by a tornado.

“We went back to the intersection and all around town, and we probably shouldn’t have but we crosse some power lines to get into town and we could se from the lights on the ambulance that the fire hall an downtown had been hit. But as we reflect on that nigh we are just glad that nobody was injured. There was dog that was lost, but we were pretty fortunate. It jus happened so fast.”

Badgley said the tornado originated more than 8 miles southwest of Oconto. “It just hopped, skippe and jumped across the country, and ended up east o Broken Bow. Mike and Karen Weverka’s house east o Broken Bow got demolished that night, and they thin the cell finally let up in a pasture at Deb and Norm Mc Caslin’s house (located on the Weissert Road nearly 3 miles from Oconto) because they spent time cleanin up debris.”

The exact number of tornadoes that were spaw that night is unclear, but Badgley thinks it was just tornado that ripped through the downtown of Octo. Few buildings downtown were left untouched. “ entire auditorium of the old community building w gone, but the curtains were still hanging on the on the stage. It was really weird,” Badlgey said wit pause.

The doors on the fire hall were completely blown during the storm and a portion of the roof was torn The next summer, instead of hosting a fireman’s ball guys decided to host a summer cookout instead. T served food and provided live entertainment. “Th when Greg Johnson said, ‘Why don’t we have a B competition and let’s call it Blowin’ the Doors Off’. that’s how we started out,”

The fire department planned to have a big celebrati on the 20th anniversary in 2020, but because of Cov the event was canceled both that year and the next. while 2022 was actually 22 years since the tornado, was the 20th year for the Blowin the Doors Off event.

Like many volunteer departments, Oconto hosted fireman’s ball to raise funds for equipment for a numb of years. Badgley explained that Blowin’ the Doors O simply replaced the ball. “We just try to help the rur board because their budget is so low,” he said.

The BBQ cook-off has grown over the years, and o year had more than 1,800 people. This year attendan was down a little with just over 1,100 people enjoyi the food of 11 grill masters. The fire department solici de help from area youth organizations such as FFA, cheeleaders and others that earn money for their groups ed helping out.

“Small communities kind of rely a little bit on ever body,” said Badgley.

The fire department purchases all of the meat, as charcoal and other supplies for the cookers. “But th od basically volunteer to do it. They don’t get any pri a money, but there are guys that have those plaques their wall and hold them with great pride. We have ki off of set the standard.”

What could have devastated this small community has become an opportunity to celebrate life, family a ey friends. And those who have the events of that nig t’s seared in their memories know - that is what rea BQ counts.