Fremont Dairy Queen to transfer ownership later this month

Dairy Queen is located at 2222 N. Broad St. in Fremont.

Courtesy

COLLIN SPILINEK Fremont Tribune

Having owned the Dairy Queen in Fremont since 1981, Mary and Jim Winterstein are stepping down.

“We live in Arizona now, and after 39 years, we just decided that it was time for us to get out,” Mary Winterstein said. “It’s difficult for us, and we’re too old to worry about it anymore and we just had an offer, so we decided it was time to sell.”

The Wintersteins will retain ownership of the building, located at 2222 N. Broad St., until Oct. 18. Two days later, Charlie Pleskac will take over as owner and plans to make building improvements.

“I’ll be more than happy to share that with the community when it’s time,” he said. “But I’m excited for it, and it will be a Dairy Queen, we still will be involved in the community and continue on with the great DQ tradition.”

Fremont’s Dairy Queen was built by Carl Gillen and Roland Ryerson in 1947, with renovations taking place in the following decades. Jim Winterstein said when he took over, he was told it was the first Dairy Queen west of the Missouri River.

Although the Wintersteins hadn’t had restaurant experience, they had known the previous owners and were neighbors of theirs.

“We were looking for a business to run, and so we took it over and we bought it from them,” Mary Winterstein said.