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Thursday, May 21, 2026 at 1:31 PM

My Hometown, Sugar Town

My Hometown, Sugar Town
Sugar beets were and still are a staple crop in this area. This undated photo looking north on Parish Avenue shows the line of wagons “bringing the beets” into town. The Great Western Sugar factory along Highway 60 between Johnstown and Milliken was built 100 years ago to process the harvest. This week read part one of a two-part series on the factory’s impact on the communities. Photo provided by Laura Tregoning-Drotar

By Laura Tregoning-Drotar/The johnstown Breeze

I ask myself with each trip home: is it overcast or are these just sugar clouds from the factory? It’s built into my DNA. I still brace myself each time I’m about to drive from Johnstown to Milliken, you know for that smell. That odd smell we all knew the normalcy of. Some said it was “the smell of money.”

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Johnstown Breeze