Baran-Unland: Joliet cafe was community gathering space

It’s been a year of loss for my family and me. And we’re just not leaving 2023 without another one.

The Book and Bean Café, located inside the Black Road branch of the Joliet Public Library, is closing for good Dec. 30 because the cafe’s owner Tammy Duckworth is retiring. I’ve gotten to know Tammy over the last decade, and I am happy for this new chapter in her life.

Still ...

For more than a decade, WriteOn Joliet, my adult writing critique group, has met at the library. For more than a decade, we have gathered at the café for dinner and coffee before our twice monthly meetings — and popped in for coffee during the in-between times.

What made the Joliet café so welcoming is Duckworth, who encouraged people to treat her space as a community space. And people did.

People hung out at the the café to read, write, study, relax and play games with their friends. They enjoyed soup and sandwiches, a frappe or smoothie, and an ever-changing menu of seasonal specials Duckworth carefully curated.

Duckworth also served one item not on her menu: a “double” hot dog piled high with cucumbers, tomatoes and onions and drizzled with mustard.

The double hot dog was my standard dinner request and Duckworth’s concession to my many allergies, a running joke between us, even as we admired the other’s hat of the day (we are both known for our hats).

But Book and Bean was more than a community café. It was a hub for local artists. For years Duckworth, an artist, offered paint nights and art classes and then displayed their pieces on the café walls.

[ Book and Bean Cafe in Joliet offers art classes ]

Duckworth also opened her walls as exhibit spaces for local photography, paintings, and other artwork. Local artists could display and sell their pieces for eight weeks at a time and then the space opened to another local artist.

WriteOn held its twice yearly open mics at the Book and Bean. Those open mics were the first time most of us ever stood behind a microphone to read our original writings aloud to a wider audience (we have the awkward videos to prove it).

WriteOn Joliet also held book signings, book launches, a gothic book club, publishing information sessions, marketing workshops and even a limerick slam at the Book and Bean.

Anytime anyone suggested “meeting for coffee,” I suggested Book and Bean Café. I’ve interviewed people, caught up with old friends and forged some wonderful new ones there, too.

A lot of “life” happened in that little café space through the years. We encouraged and hugged each other in the challenging times; we celebrated and high-fived in the triumphant times. We shared concerns, brainstormed ideas and nurtured creative ideas.

I don’t know of another place like it in Joliet.

Still ...

The closing of the cafe doors also means the doors of new opportunities are swinging open, too. We’re mourning the loss of a cherished space, yes. But we’re writing a new chapter in our lives, too.

Let’s make it a good one.

Denise M. Baran-Unland is the features editor at The Herald-News. Contact her at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.