A cup of connections
Small-town coffee shops invite small-town charm
Staff writer
Jose Almaguer didn’t expect a conversation at a coffee shop to lead to a connection with his next-door neighbor.
One day, a man from Lost Springs sat down next to him at the Sit Down in Marion. The two struck up a conversation, and Almaguer soon discovered the man was his neighbor’s uncle at Marion County Lake.
“If you don’t know anything about Lost Springs, it’s tiny,” Almaguer said. “He was a nice guy. Made my meal.”
It’s the kind of chance encounter that can happen in a small-town coffee shop, where a cup of coffee can lead to a familiar face or a new friendship.
For Sheryl Richert, coffee shops are places where generations and backgrounds overlap.
She sat near a fireplace at Rhubarb Market in Hillsboro, sewing pumpkins onto cloth blocks that will become pieces for a quilt.
A few pockets of people sat in antique chairs surrounded by rustic decor while employees greeted customers at the cafe on Main St.
Richert said the mix of people was part of what made the cafe special.
“The highlight is the intergenerational demographic,” she said. “Because it’s not just coffee shop people; it’s definitely a whole cross section.”
That cross section can mean bumping into an old chum and spilling the latest tea, meeting a stranger who may become a friend, finishing tasks for work, or finding a quiet nook to study for an exam.
Rhubarb Market has become a place Tabor College students Creighton Kukula and Makenna Reed recommend to anyone they meet in class or on campus.
Reed, a Hillsboro native and member of the basketball team, said the shop was one of the places she pointed recruits toward.
Kukula, from Newton, said Rhubarb Market had become his favorite place to get coffee.
“Sometimes it can become dangerous because I’ll spend a lot of money,” he said with a laugh. Rhubarb Market isn’t the only place in Marion County where coffee comes with a side of conversation.
The Sit Down offers a similar kind of small-town charm. At both cafes, the smell of fresh coffee and pastries mixes with dialogue among people.
Stepping inside Marion’s cafe on N. 3rd St. feels a little like stepping into another era. An old fiddle sits by the front door, antiques line the walls, and each room is decorated and furnished differently from the one next to it. Tammy Ediger of Hillsboro called it “almost historic.”
“I love all the seating, too,” she said. “That’s something that you don’t get a lot in coffee shops is the little nooks and crannies.”
For Aubrey Schlesener, the Sit Down has gone from a place she regularly visited to a place where she has built relationships of her own.
She has worked at the cafe for the past three months, but she’ll start cosmetology school in November and hopes to pick up extra shifts on weekends.
“I love it,” Schlesener said. “Definitely has been my favorite job I’ve had.”
Almaguer, a retired Navy veteran, has visited once a week since it opened two years ago. He likes the turkey melt on a croissant. But the food isn’t the only reason he keeps coming back.
Since he moved to the area 15 years ago, the Sit Down has given Almaguer a place to meet and talk to people and build friendships.
“I guess it’s contagious,” Almaguer said.