The weather was mild and a large crowd was on hand. The parade attracts a lot of children for obvious reasons. When the lights of the city are turned off the whole downtown seems to take on a magical quality as the lighted floats make their way down Chestnut Street. I saw some people that night that I hardly ever see during the year.

This year's parade had quite a few new and unique entries. Only a few farm tractors and trucks were in the parade this year which made it much less a winter farm equipment parade this year than in other years.

I noticed that on Saturday morning the entire parking lot on Chestnut Street was filled with cars in preparation for the parade that night. There must have been over 50 cars in the lot. I thought where are all these cars going to park if the proposed Dollar General Store takes up half of the parking lot? I have a feeling that people will not want to walk 4 blocks to watch the parade if the parking lot is taken. This empasizes how important the parking lot is to Minonk. People want to park close to their shopping and to their parades.

The large crowd on main street brought back memories to me of when downtown Minonk was packed every Saturday night with shoppers. Farmers and city folk alike would bring their cars to town in the middle of Saturday afternoon in order to get a prime parking spot along main street. This would allow them to sit in their cars and watch the people go by and also to visit with the people from their car. The barber shops would be crowded with customers and with guys who just wanted to sit and gossip. Bank corner would be crowded with men recapping the week's activities. Aromas abounded on main street. It was a curious mixture of fresh popcorn from the popcorn machine in front of the Princess Sweet Shop, the smell of Eight O'Clock coffee being ground in the A&P, talcum powder from fresh haircuts, cigar and cigarette smoke everywhere and the smell of Old Spice aftershave lotion on the men who were freshly shaved for the Saturday night social scene.

Indeed, Minonk was the shopping center for all of the small towns within 15 miles of Minonk. This was the days before shopping centers and television when people went to town not only to shop but also to visit. Many of the men wore wide brimmed hats and dress shirts and pants just as if they were going to a party.

Johnson's barber shop was located below the Minonk State Bank at the corner of Fifth and Chestnut. There were steps that led down to the barber shop. There was a guard rail along the south side of the bank that protected the opening that led down to the shop.

There were 5 restaurants that included Eden's Cafe, Al's Tap, and Meils Pool Hall in the south block of main, Bob Morrison's Chocolate Shop and the Princess Sweet Shop on north main. There were 5 taverns downtown that included The Glass Bar, Al's Tap, Eden's Tap, and Pinky's Tavern on the south block of main and Ketchy's Tavern on West Fifth. In addition there were car dealers downtown including Goodwin Bros. Ford and Young Chevrolet on main street, Leiken Motors on Oak Street and Ray Boren's Studebacker at the corner of Sixth and Walnut.

There also were insurance companies, egg hatcheries, a movie theatre, The Minonk News-Dispatch, two dry cleaners, 3 doctors; Dr. Morrison, Dr. Esposito, and Dr. Barret. Dr. Johnson and Dr. Kettlehut were dentists.

While Minonk will probably never have 6 grocery stores again, I think the city is poised to regain some of its shopping potential. The success and tradition of Minonk's July 4th celebration and the Parade of Lights indicates to me that Minonk still can attract people. Minonk needs a hardware store and a drug store. I am dismayed that Greentree Pharmacy on Chestnut Street chooses not to operate a drug store at its location on North Chestnut Street. Instead, they concentrate only on delivering drugs to nursing homes. We need to get business leaders in Minonk who wish to serve Minonk. Hopefully, with the coming of the new Dollar General Store, Minonk is poised again to become a shopping center. Maybe someday Minonk will again have crowds downtown like on Saturday night 50 years ago.