Archive of: 1980s

Nybakke is currently celebrating its 85th anniversary, making it one of the oldest family-owned businesses in Central Illinois.

Acacia fraternity members from Illinois Wesleyan University compete in the outhouse race at Hudson’s Prairie Daze summer fest back in 1980.

Ross Griffin of Stark Excavating keeps an eye on crane operator John Quiram as he makes short work of the Mar-Len Hotel, 309 N. Center St., in early June 1988.

Towanda Grade School kindergartners perform Thanksgiving themed poems and songs for their parents the week of Thanksgiving 1980.

“Buy American—Save the USA” was the theme for the September 2, 1985, Labor Day parade.

Seen here from March 1988 are Laesch employees Ben Christiansen (left) and Ben Kiley filling and packing a supply of chocolate almond ice cream.

Robert R. “Bob” Neal salutes a fallen veteran at Bloomington’s Park Hill Cemetery, Memorial Day 1982. Bob served in the U.S. Marine Corps and was a veteran of the Korean War.

A 75-year-old Nelva Menzel, longtime waitress at the Dixie Trucker’s Home, is seen here in late 1981. By this time she had already put in 32-plus years at the Route 66 landmark in the Village of McLean, located some 15 miles south of Bloomington.

On October 3, 1984, Illinois State University students protested new Town of Normal liquor ordinances designed to control large off-campus keg parties.

On February 7, 1980, Democratic Party stalwart Paul Simon (wearing a bow tie as usual) echoed many Stevensonian themes in his address. “There is a danger in an election year that we cheer or jeer rather than think, that we react more than we reflect, and that we respond to national need with national cynicism."