Dairy Dinner

Dairy Dinner 8-1-2010 taken by Tom and Amy Turner.

Sunday afternoon, I came across a friend's Facebook status that made me feel a little sad. The Dairy Dinner in Charleston, AR was going to be closing the next day. I am unsure how long the Dairy Dinner has been around, but I know at least 35 years and assuming it's been a lot longer. I bet I haven't stopped at it since the early 90's because of moving away and for the fact a Sonic had gone in a few years ago, so it was easier to stop there for a drink instead of the Dairy Dinner.

Most of my high school and college years were spent cruising around Paris, but sometimes I would go up to Charleston. The Dairy Dinner was the turn-around point at the west end of town. Usually, I would stop by and get something to drink while I was in town.

My most memorable thought of the Dairy Dinner with with my mom, aunt and two cousins. I don't remember how old I was, figure about 6 or 7, but we were coming back from the Wal-Mart at Booneville. At the time, it was the only Wal-Mart in our area. My two cousins, Jerri and Tommy, wanted to go somewhere to get something to eat. Jerri wanted to go the Dairy Dinner, Tommy wanted to go to Paris. Both cousins started trying to get me to side with them. Tommy, knowing the type of coward that I was, starting telling some story about the road being scary between Chimsville and Charleston. Of course, then you couldn't get me to go to Charleston, so we all had to go to Paris. Just thinking of the Dairy Dinner closing has made me miss Tommy a little more this week.