not sell on that day. We all competed to put on the best display of beef that was usually bought for this occasion at the Easter Beef Show and sale two weeks before. This Beef show and sale brought farmers in from all over the Island and it was a real social event as well. The prize steers brought prices so high that retailers could not possibly make a profit. It was an advertising and public relations effort, which usually only the large stores could afford to bid for the top prize.

I am not sure what Jack Locke’s association was with Mills meat market but he was always there and he supplied us with beef for several years. He was average height but very heavy. I would watch him bring into the store a side of beef, which sometimes would weigh 150 pounds or more. His face would be flushed red and he would breathe heavily and often I thought he was not going to make it. He would throw in the heart, liver and tongue at no charge and we thought that was very generous of him. When we decided that we should install scales to weigh all meat and produce we received, Jack seemed somewhat offended and commented that if we were going to start weighing the beef, that he would have to charge for the heart, liver and tongue.

Mills Meat Market made potted meat which was a very popular item. When the market was destroyed by fire, the potted meat business was taken over by Ernie Johnston who made the product out of his home. He would be an uncle to my sister in law Edith, married to my brother Joe. He added other product such as potato salad, coleslaw and other prepared salads. After he died, his son, Harris, continued and expanded the business into Johnston’s Home Style Products, which became a very successful Island business.

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