In the past, the Kewanee Historical Society Museum has only been open two afternoons a week from May through October. The museum is only staffed by a few volunteers which limits the schedule.
Last year, however, LeeAnn Bailleu and Marianne Culver, who along with Jon Looney, produce and co-host the Historical Society’s podcast “Memory Lane,” came up with an idea that would expand the museum’s function into the off-season months and provide an opportunity for the public to share their memories about growing up and/or working in Kewanee.
Thus “Coffee Talk” was born, a once-a-month opportunity to sit around a table with a cup of coffee, pastry and others to share things they remember about Kewanee.
“Someone had suggested that we serve coffee and host Kewanee history enthusiasts at the museum,” said Culver. “Jon, LeeAnn and I mulled it over at one of our weekly taco lunches at Gustavo’s. We wanted to make the museum available during the winter and learn more about Kewanee. During one of our discussions, we recalled a ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit that was called ‘Coffee Talk’ but it was pronounced ‘tawk.’ We decided to name our winter monthly meetings “Kewanee Coffee Tawk.”
“Coffee Tawk” is held the first Saturday of each month, November through April at 9 a.m.
“We are recording these oral histories and hope to transcribe them at some time,” said Culver. Each month a new topic is suggested, but it’s an “anything can go,” format. Past topics have included Downtown Kewanee, Kewanee Parks, Historical Crimes of Kewanee, Schools, Restaurants and Bars, Where did your parents work?, Christmas in Kewanee and Kewanee Boiler.
“We have learned more about each of these topics,” said Culver. “Did you know, for instance, there used to be a lake, sloughs and coal mining in Baker Park? Have you ever heard of “The House that Jack Built”? Or that Walworth workers were allowed to create personal items out of unneeded molten iron.”
Local chiropractor and Kewanee School Board President Jeff Johnson was surprised to find at the January meeting that a lion-shaped iron doorstop in the museum’s Walworth collection had been made by his great-grandfather.
The most attended “Coffee Tawk,” according to Culver, was on “Historical Crime in Kewanee,” where impromptu stories by retired Kewanee police detective Joe Cervantez led to an invitation to do a full program on the subject which was recorded and can be found at Kewanee Memory Lane on Facebook.
Bailleu said, “It’s the most fun when someone says ‘Hey, do you remember this?’ and others add in more about the topic. We do like going down rabbit holes! We will continue to eat more tacos and come up with more great ideas!”
The February “Coffee Tawk” will be this Saturday, Feb. 7, beginning at 9 a.m. at the museum at Tremont and Second streets in downtown Kewanee.
This month’s topic is “Healthcare in Kewanee,” with a roundtable discussion of hospitals, doctors, dentists, chiropractors and any other aspect of healthcare in “the good old days.”
What better way to spend a cold winter Saturday morning! Everyone is welcome to come and share or merely listen.
After all, it’s just “Coffee Tawk.”
