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 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 their hands. After pulling down a gravel round they finally realized whose place they were at, but with the power out there wasn’t even a yard light to guide them or to show them that place had just been hit. “We were trying to spot the storm, and we could see another cell south of us in rotation so we went south on Highway 21, and it kinda just quit. So we came back to town, and every street we tried to go down was blocked,” he recalled. “We got over just east of the Legion Hall and we were told the community building had been hit. I asked if everybody was alright and they said yes. And that’s when I called Custer County and told them we were going to need some assistance, because we had been hit by a tornado.
“We went back to the intersection and all around town, and we probably shouldn’t have but we crossed some power lines to get into town and we could see from the lights on the ambulance that the fire hall and downtown had been hit. But as we reflect on that night we are just glad that nobody was injured. There was a dog that was lost, but we were pretty fortunate. It just happened so fast.”
Badgley said the tornado originated more than 80 miles southwest of Oconto. “It just hopped, skipped and jumped across the country, and ended up east of Broken Bow. Mike and Karen Weverka’s house east of Broken Bow got demolished that night, and they think the cell finally let up in a pasture at Deb and Norm McCaslin’s house (located on the Weissert Road nearly 30 miles from Oconto) because they spent time cleaning up debris.”
The exact number of tornadoes that were spawned that night is unclear, but Badgley thinks it was just one tornado that ripped through the downtown of Oconto. Few buildings downtown were left untouched. “The entire auditorium of the old community building was gone, but the curtains were still hanging on the rod on the stage. It was really weird,” Badlgey said with a pause.
The doors on the fire hall were completely blown off during the storm and a portion of the roof was torn off. The next summer, instead of hosting a fireman’s ball the guys decided to host a summer cookout instead. They served food and provided live entertainment. “That’s when Greg Johnson said, ‘Why don’t we have a BBQ competition and let’s call it Blowin’ the Doors Off’. So that’s how we started out,” Badgley said. 
The fire department planned to have a big celebration on the 20th anniversary in 2020, but because of Covid the event was canceled both that year and the next. So while 2022 was actually 22 years since the tornado, it was the 20th year for the Blowin the Doors Off event.
Like many volunteer departments, Oconto hosted a fireman’s ball to raise funds for equipment for a number of years. Badgley explained that Blowin’ the Doors Off simply replaced the ball. “We just try to help the rural board because their budget is so low,” he said.
The BBQ cook-off has grown over the years, and one year had more than 1,800 people. This year attendance was down a little with just over 1,100 people enjoying the food of 11 grill masters. The fire department solicits help from area youth organizations such as FFA, cheerleaders and others that earn money for their groups by helping out.
“Small communities kind of rely a little bit on everybody,” said Badgley.
The fire department purchases all of the meat, the charcoal and other supplies for the cookers. “But they basically volunteer to do it. They don’t get any prize money, but there are guys that have those plaques on their wall and hold them with great pride. We have kind of set the standard.”
What could have devastated this small community has become an opportunity to celebrate life, family and friends. And those who have the events of that night seared in their memories know - that is what really counts.