Jack Nicholson’s cap played a role in retired Northfield teacher’s mission to sell hot dogs

Earl Weinmann makes a decent dog using locally sourced beef, sauerkraut, onions and a homemade secret sauce for the more adventurous. At $5 each, it’s the best fast-food deal this side of Taco Tuesdays.

But the main draw to his Weinmann’s Weenies, the hot dog-shaped cart at Northfield’s Riverwalk Market Fair, is the chance to support both local charities and one of the town’s most upbeat citizens.

“Hello! How are you?” the former middle school teacher kept repeating on a recent Saturday morning, exuding the charm of a weatherman who promises only sunny skies. “We’ve got stickers for the kids. Who wants a sticker?”

Weinmann, 63, gets especially excited when former students pop by, sometimes with their parents.

“You’ve got a wonderful son there,” he said to a family, right after filling the steamer with some of the more than 150 dogs he’ll sell over the course of four hours. ”If I ever have children, I want you to raise them.“

The business’ back story is just as cute and kooky as the wiener-shaped hat atop Weinmann’s head.

In the early ’90s, he spent $100 on the skull cap that Jack Nicholson wore in the 1975 Oscar-winning film, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” For decades, he displayed it in a shadow box in his basement TV room.

After retiring from Northfield Middle School in 2022, the beloved social studies teacher was looking for ways to give back to the community of roughly 21,000, home to Carleton and St. Olaf colleges.

“After doing that for 30 years you still need a little excitement in your life,’ he said as the Cannon River flowed behind his market spot. ”I decided, ‘Hey, I don’t have any special skills, but I can sell hot dogs.’"

Last December, he sold the movie memorabilia for $13,000 at the same auction in which “The Wizard of Oz” shoes went for $28 million. The amount surprised him since the “Antiques Roadshow” series had valued his item at less than half that amount when he appeared on the PBS program in 2012.

“The only thing I would give it up for is a night on the town with Jack Nicholson,” he told show appraiser Laura Woolley.

The $11,000 he ended up pocketing from the sale last year went toward a $14,000 cart he bought from a Lakeville man who was using it for picnics.

All of Weinmann’s Weenies profits will go to support youth programs at the Northfield History Center, a local food shelf and the market itself. He’s eating the cost of the cart so he can write checks to the causes sooner rather than later.

Giving back isn’t new for Weinmann. For years, he’s volunteered at the History Center, which offers the chance to step into the vault that took center stage in one of the Midwest’s most infamous robberies, the Northfield Bank Raid of 1876.

One of the History Center tour guides, Christian Hakala, who was trained by Weinmann, considers the former social studies instructor to be “kind of an institution” in town.

“He deserves credit,” said Hakala, who will be participating in re-creations of the bank heist during Northfield’s annual the Defeat of Jesse James Days in early September. “He wouldn’t normally toot his own horn.”

Riverwalk Market director Derek Meyers said Weinmann’s generosity reflects Northfield’s giving spirit.

There was nothing but happy faces in front of Weinmann’s Weenies, even as early as 10 a.m.

“Breakfast of champions,” said retired stockbroker Catherine McBride, a regular customer. “I don’t drink anymore. Now it’s hot dogs.”

Sara Drapac is another repeat diner.

You can’t not be an Earl fan," she said as she handed over her money to volunteer assistant Tammy McDonough, another retired schoolteacher. “He’s just quirky and fun and a go-getter. These guys just rock it.”

Weinmann is still finding his footing. In his third Saturday at the market, he sold out well before the 1 p.m. closing time. The following weekend, he sold the four gluten-free dogs he had in stock within 90 minutes. The one vegan dog remained in the cooler. Next year, he hopes to add a grill so he can add peppers.