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Clearwater’s Heritage Days and launch of new book event

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My new book, “Poncho Makes New Friends,” will be launched and available for sale during Clearwater’s Heritage Days, Saturday, August 8th, 2026, on Main Street at the United Methodist Church, 10-3, at Clearwater, Minnesota
I’ll be reading the book–all or a portion– at 1:00 pm in the sanctuary.
Like last year, along with my sister, Becky Frank, we will be hosting this community celebration of 250 years of a wonderful country, and over 170 years of Clearwater in the church Friendship Hall from 10-3. We offer oodles of historic topics to talk about, plenty historic information and pictures, and a nice cool environment to rest and snack.
In addition, I’ll be selling my historic novels, Minnesota Main Street Women and “All Around Clearwater.”
Come join us in this historic celebration.

‘Tis the Season

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Thanksgiving was wonderful, thanks to our host and hostess, Todd, Joyce, and Cora Stupnik. And so we begin: decorating, socializing, shopping, baking, and celebrating– ‘cuz ’tis the season. Of course, we already have the hope of a white Christmas.
But before I can get totally involved in the upcoming holidays, I am excited about an upcoming, but last, event this Saturday, December 6th at the Regency Venue, 912 W St Germain St, St Cloud, MN.
I hope to see you there.
I also had hoped to have my latest book, a children’s book this time, been digitally challenging because I decided to try my hand at publishing with Kindle. Unfortunately, while I finished writing the book a long time ago, learning the digital publishing world has been harder than I thought it would be. I have a few more images to create and some other details, but I believe I’ll be finished in the new year and will be available digitally and in paperback format. The setting is the 1950’s when our family moved to Warner Lake. I’ll be updating information soon–I promise.
In addition, I’ve begun researching my 4th novel of the Minnesota Main Street Women’s series. This woman, Mary Jennette Sanborn, or Netty as she was known to her close friends, was the same age as Jennie Phillips, “Scruples & Drams,” lived across the street from her, and was also trained at the St. Cloud Normal School to be a teacher. She taught around the St. Cloud area and finally ended up at Clearwater in the elementary department.
The setting is 1945, and the topics will be varied, but may include the fight for women to vote, prohibition’s issues–alive and still a problem in Clearwater, and of course, WWII. I will be bringing into the community new people in town and how they help shape Clearwater. The title will be “Clearwater: The Hub of the Universe.” In a future blog, I’ll answer a few questions about the title.
In case you can’t see, the picture is of Mary Jennette Sanborn and the cover of Poncho.
Have a merry Christmas. I hope to see you at the wonderful event on St Germain this Saturday. For those who remember the Beauty School, this is the same venue area. You’ll love seeing what they did with the building.
Mary Jennette Sanborn

NEWS

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I’m so sorry, but I’ll have to cancel my St. Cloud, East Side Event–Festifall, tomorrow –9/21/25. I don’t think I’ve done this before–completely, that is. My sister and husband got sick about 12 days ago with THE BUG. Low fever, body aches, deep cough, sore throats, and more. Thurs, I got it–like 9 days later. I still have it, although fever is gone now. But body aches, throat, ear, and cough etc. Btw, they still aren’t 100%. I don’t know when they or I will be at 100%. So you will not be able to come,, visit, or buy tomorrow where I should be in front of the former Ace Bar ….You can still buy from me, as I have a website. http://www.cynthiafrankstupnik.com/
Hope to see you soon though!

Festifall

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This weekend, Sunday, 9/21/25, from 12-5 pm, I’ll be setting up my tent for the 2nd annual Festifall, Downtown, St. Cloud. https://www.facebook.com/events/1492286145117042/
to sell “Around Clearwater” and my Minnesota Main Street Women novels.

I’ll be at the former Ace Bar location, East St. Cloud, 423 Wilson/St Germain. Our family ate here a lot, and friends threw a personal shower for me here…54 some years ago. Here I had my first frog legs–and my last. No, they didn’t taste like chicken.

This part of St Cloud is a reminder of family. When Mom had her restaurant, Dad and I came up to wash clothes at the laundromat. We often ate at Tom’s Lunch, which was across Wilson. while we waited to throw the clothes into the dryers. I suppose if Dad felt rich, he’d let me throw a dime into the jukebox and listen to “Johnny Angel” or “Sealed with a Kiss.” On Friday nights, we often caught up with Grandma and Grandpa Johnson at Carl’s where they were stocking up for the week ahead. We banked at St. Cloud National Bank, and unfortunately, met friends and loved ones at Benson’s Funeral Home.

But our family’s roots go deeper a few generations. My dad and his sisters came to stay here with Uncle Christ Hauck after their parents died in South Dakota. Uncle Christ owned Hauck Coal & Supply. He raised his children here. My mom was also born at home here (Look at the picture of her being held on the sill of a 2nd story apartment on East St. Germain and guess what the building is now).

Many cousins, uncles, aunts and great and grandparents all lived in the area. Home.

Come share in the reunion with me. Let’s alk about women in history, how they survived, what many of us need to remember and teach other young men and women about for equal rights.

Hope to see you Sunday afternoon.

LONG TIME NO TALK

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May be an image of text that says 'Pina MAIN Minnesota STREET Women 0eo'

 

I’ve been lost in some minor health issues, dream and imagination land, trying to figure out new programs for a children’s book, delving into a new topic for series #4 of Minnesota Main Street Women.  Now my 2025 season of selling begins, and I can no longer stare out the window when life tries to beat me down or technology gets the better of me.♥

 

 

 

 

 

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As we finished up March like a lion, I wanted to remind everyone that it was National Women’s History Month. I wanted to still sing about our lion-hearted women who stood up for what they felt was right, where they felt women should be in the world, and how they believed they could achieve everything a man could.


Also a reminder: I’ll be talking Clearwater–my favorite topic–her historic connections, next Wed, April 9, at the Stearns History Center from 9-10:30. I hope to see you there.

Breakfast Club- Cindy Frank-Stupnik, “Clearwater and its Historic Connections”

 

 

Stearns Breakfast Club

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Did you know Clearwater threw away a chance to become a mini-tropolis like or instead of St. Cloud? Did you know that one of the town founders was brother to the Father of Minneapolis?
I’m excited to end my winter rest and recuperation by talking to the audience at the Stearns Breakfast Club about Clearwater’s Historic Connections. Come hear about some of the people I refer to in my book “All Around Clearwater” and Minnesota Main Street Women
at the Breakfast Club’s April meeting. More info coming soon.

Birds, Balance, and the Indomitable Woman

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No photo description available.

 

How does that tiny bird stay balanced on the twig so high up in the tree? From my chair, I cannot see what type of bird it is, but I’ve seen others hang on like broncobusters on top of sprouting grasses by the side of the road or in swamps by lakes while winds throw them right and left.

Balance. It is what I need and little of what I have. I think I inherited my lack of equilibrium. I’ve been known to walk into walls, but I know my dad did too, and I saw his sister who wasn’t raised with him do it too. (They were orphans and raised in different homes.) I have hearing issues, totally deaf in one ear and a nasty astigmatism, neither help this old brain keep the rest of the body walking, much less standing straight. My neck and my back have caused me painful issues for a long time. In the last few years, I’ve developed some problems that will never go away. My physical therapist has instructed me it is time to use my cane.


Oh, vanity of all vanities, I don’t want to. I do use “Rudi,” my walking stick though, especially if I know I am about to climb a hill or walk a thorny path. I also use a shopping cart to hold on while I am out and about at the market, of course, that leads me to spending money, which leads to another problem—buying what two of us don’t need or use.


On the other hand, a balance of power gets our country nowhere as our leaders hot air blows us like the bird on the twig swaying back and forth. Yet a great shift like an earthquake of power can encourage even that little winged creature to fly off and fly high above to avoid a serious calamity. We cannot. We could flee to a different country, but I doubt many of us will because deep down we know we live in the best country in the world.And for us women and those who care for what we have fought for, lost and won, we need to remember we are mighty in number and in strength. We can’t forget that. We are like the bird gripping with its tiny feet to stay on the limb’s smallest shoots. Think of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and across the big pool, Emmeline Parkhurt and all of her crew; yes, those “radicals” created freedoms for the rest of us women a long time ago. My mother, aunts, and grandmothers knew and appreciated those freedoms, and I assume yours did too.


Each generation since has had to keep pushing on and over to grab hold of a little bit more: from first the vote, to equal rights in the workplace, educational right, legal rights in our businesses, to our health rights, and so much more is at stake. My hope is we don’t have to take up pickets and start marching, smash windows, or starve ourselves again like those early soldiers of our cause.
Now is the time to remind our younger generations of what has been done for us already and to hold on tight like the bird out on the high branch of the tree as the winds of change try to blow us about.


A wonderful song, showing the attitude of the “women’s lib era” is “I AM WOMAN,” sung and partially written by Helen Reddy. Some of the lyrics remind and forewarn us:
I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much
To go back an’ pretend
‘Cause I’ve heard it all before
And I’ve been down there on the floor
No one’s ever gonna
Keep me down again
Oh yes I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman

You can bend but never break me
‘Cause it only serves to make me
More determined
To achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
‘Cause you’ve deepened
The conviction in my soul

Oh yes I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin’ arms
Across the land
But I’m still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my
Brother understand

Oh yes I am wise
But it’s wisdom born of pain
Yes, I’ve paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to
I can face anything
I am strong
I am invincible
I am woman
Oh, I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong

P.S. My schedule has been very busy with health-related issues since I last posted. I was checked into the surgical center 3X. Colonoscopy, right cervical and left cervical ablations on my upper neck, and physical therapy for the past few months for my lower area–to gain strength and to gain some balance, which I lost after my last fall when I fractured ribs.

Now I am getting ready for my last three events of the year:
I’ll be bringing my best prices for my books–Minnesota Main Street Women’s series, including my latest “Where Two Rivers Meet,” and “Around Clearwater.” I will also be giving away a handmade bookmark to anyone buying a book. They are $2-3 a piece otherwise.

Saturday, November 23, St. Joseph, MN
Resurrection Lutheran Church Craft Fair
https://www.facebook.com/events/937221781551371/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22external_search_engine%22%7D%2C%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22your_upcoming_events_unit%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22bookmark%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D

Saturday, December 7th, Becker, MN
Pebble Creek Christmas Market
https://www.facebook.com/events/937221781551371/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22external_search_engine%22%7D%2C%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22your_upcoming_events_unit%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22bookmark%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D

Todd Stupnik,
my son and fellow artist, will be joining me with all his wonderful art. This will be quite a showing:
https://www.facebook.com/todd.stupnik

Saturday, December 14th, St Cloud, MN
Makers Market
https://www.facebook.com/events/937221781551371/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A[%7B%22surface%22%3A%22external_search_engine%22%7D%2C%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22your_upcoming_events_unit%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22bookmark%22%7D]%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D

In addition, just a reminder that I am open for speaking events, round tables, book club chats in 2025.   I’ve a few engagements already scheduled so hope to hear very soon if you have an idea of what you’d like me to do.  Send me an email cstupnik@outlook.com or chat with me on Facebook/Messenger.

Thank you, Monticello Times

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I am forwarding a lovely article the Monticello Times wrote up.

 

https://www.hometownsource.com/monticello_times/historically-speaking-opera-house-brought-entertainment-to-town/article_94808ecc-a9b9-11ee-afc9-37c398056f5b.html