For many in Elgin, Christmas just might not feel the same — particularly in their tummies.
Jerry Mundorf stopped in The Elgin Review office Monday afternoon to announce an Elgin tradition had come to an end after 40 years. The tradition? The holiday ham ball.
“In 1977 I started making ham balls and distributing them around town,” he said about the 40-year-old tradition. “Since I gave ham balls to different people through the years, it is impossible to give everyone the news. So, I’m putting it in the paper so you might know that you were just not left out.
“I am tired of making ham balls. I have retired.”
He said he began the tradition when he owned the drive-in in Elgin. He said it would take as long as a week to prepare the ham balls. He said he started with making 100 and made as many as 140 of the delicious treats, adding all the ingredients to make the ham balls the tasty treat looked forward to by so many.
It’s as if a curtain has come down. Like the flowers, where have all the ham balls gone? We know not where, but now they’re gone, gone, gone.
