Soon after, her sister, Rita (Buchness) Stevens, sent in a recipe for Clara Kuehl's barbecue beef. In her letter she commented on the tavern and dance pavilion that Clara and her husband Bill Kuehl ran at the south end of Minonk in the 1930's and 40's.

This email elicited a response from Bill Hinkle who was a nephew of Clara Kuehl and who grew up in a house next to Kuehl's tavern. From this I received a poster announcing the 1941 opening of the dance pavilion at the tavern.

I published both recipes and an article on the dance pavilion with a picture of the 1941 poster. This brought an email from Phyllis Hinkle who had taken care of Clara Kuehl during the last ten years of her life. Phyllis had always wanted to find Clara's barbecue beef recipe and now she found it on this website.

I was as excited as Phyllis Hinkle was about finding Clara Kuehl's recipe, but for different reasons. For me it was the realization that this is exactly what this website is all about. Bringing people, ideas, and things together.

I have heard more people talking about Clara Kuehl's recipe since it was published. It has to be the most popular recipe published so far. If only Clara could be around to see how popular she all of a sudden has become.

That is the other surprise for me. It seems that the recipes are a very popular item on this website. But what can be more endearing than the promise of a new recipe to titillate the taste buds?

Another example of bringing things together was an old (around 1912) photo submitted by Diana Folkers Tidball to this website. She knew that one of the people in the picture was her grandfather George Folkers but didn't know anyone else in the picture or where it was taken. Lo and behold, one day after publishing the photo, Sherry Janssen Lindeman of Florida sent in a letter describing who the people were and where it was taken. She had the exact same photo! I emailed this to Diana Tidball and she replied that it helped her fill some gaps in her family geneology.

So if anyone out there has some unsolved mysteries concerning lost relatives or old photos, submit your case to Minonk Talk. You might have them solved.

Where are the developer guidelines for Minonk?

Last week a big yellow Dollar General sign was put up on city property near the corner of Chestnut and Fifth Streets, a half block away from the Dollar General store. Personally, I think the sign is ugly and in an inappropriate spot. It detracts from the landscaping and does not fit in with the rest of main street. Furthermore, it is on city property as far as I can tell. I wonder if this sign falls within the architectural guidelines that the City's Economic Development Committee is supposed to be developing for downtown?

I guess the bigger question is, when will the committee come up with guidelines? They have been working on them now for over 5 months. It is important that some type of development code for downtown is approved before other businesses start moving in. We don't want to end up with a neon jungle or a maze of signs that make Minonk look like any other strip mall in the country.

If Dollar General is allowed to put up a sign on city property, why can't any other business do the same? It is important that the city not show favortism to one store over the other.