WEIMAR’S TRADITIONS
A “UNIQUELY TEXAS” MEAT MARKET
Kasper’s Meat Market KEEPING THE TRADITION ALL IN THE FAMILY FOR THREE GENERATIONS BY MICHELLE BANSE STOKES, PHOTOS BY EMILY HENDERSON
Weimar is pretty much synonymous with smoked sausage thanks to Kasper’s Meat Market. Known far and wide for their signature recipe, customers are known to drive for hours just to load up their coolers with several links and a few packages of fresh meat. Their orders, carefully wrapped in classic butcher paper, are as unique as the experience itself. There aren’t many places left that are anything like Kasper’s. Their old screen door welcomes customers in to reveal a bygone era. Once inside, people discover it’s more than just the smoked sausage, bacon and fresh meat that makes the market so special. It’s the small-town conversations, laughter and sense of family that have kept customers standing in line for over three generations. A brother-and-sister team, Maurice Kasper and Jean Kasper Blaha are currently at the helm of their family business. It was difficult to get these busybodies to sit for a spell, but I eventually twisted their arm to talk with me for a bit about the origins of their historic meat market. “Our grandpa’s half-brother started it all in 1917,” Maurice said. “After Dad came back from the Korean War, Grandpa needed him to work here. So, he stayed in Weimar and worked in the meat market for 72 years. We just wanted to keep the tradition going.” And although Kasper’s Meat Market has been in the same spot since my own childhood, it turns out that their current location wasn’t always a meat market.
“This used to be an old grocery store,” Maurice said. “My dad bought it back in the late 60s. They tore the wall out when we bought the barber shop next door … that’s where we make the sausage. The rest is history! We’re going on 105 years this coming October.” Growing up with his family business, Maurice was certain from the get-go that this was what he was cut out to do. It’s easy for him to explain what motivated him to stay with the meat market for so many years. “Watching my dad do it,’ Maurice said. “I do this because of the love for my dad and my grandpa. I worked with my dad here for 52 years. We were like two peas in a pod.” “Dad worked hard,” Jean added. “When he got cancer, and he was getting very weak, I told him, ‘Daddy, it’s time to go home.’ He told me that he was sure we could make Above, brotherit at the market on our own. I’ve been here and-sister team, since I was 21 years old. I always wanted Maurice Kasper to be a nurse or something in the medical and Jean Kasper field but I did this for Daddy. This meat Blaha of Kasper’s market was simply part of our lifestyle.” Meat Market in
12 | WEIMAR, TEXAS
Weimar.
