‘We made everybody feel at home.’ Beloved diner in Tonganoxie destroyed in fire
Jennifer Polley’s heart sank as she pulled into downtown Tonganoxie Friday night. Flames were shooting out of Flashbacks, her family’s beloved small-town diner, and there was nothing to do but watch as the building — part restaurant, part local history display, all community institution — was consumed by the blaze.
Family and others looked on as firefighters worked at the scene throughout the night. Tears flowed.
“You just feel so helpless,” said Polley, whose mother and stepfather, Debi and Charlie Conrad, ran the restaurant. “You just have to watch it burn.”
Flashbacks was home to a collection of local history, a group of loyal regulars and plenty of memories over the years and was also home, literally, to its proprietors, the Conrads, who lived in a space at the back of the building. Fortunately, everyone was away at the time of the blaze, and no one was hurt.
“It’s just a building — a building that had a lot of pictures and a lot of history — but you can’t replace a life,” said Charlie Conrad, who’s known by most in town as “Tuna,” as he stood outside the blackened building. The charred smell of the blaze still lingered in the air Monday.
“We feel very fortunate,” he said.
Businesses and community members snapped into action in the days since the fire and blanketed the family in support. A GoFundMe page had raised more than $18,000 as of Monday night.
“I knew that there would be a lot of support,” Polley said. “I didn’t realize the extent to which that support was gonna be. I’m just grateful.”
Flashbacks, serving up breakfast and comfort food, coffee and community, built up a collection of regular customers over the years, some of whom would be let in a few minutes before opening time at 7 a.m. so they could grab their spot and their cup of coffee before others started to filter in. Local high school students and family members filled out the staff. Everyone felt like family.
“We made everybody feel at home,” Tuna Conrad said. “We didn’t try to, we just did. It’s who we are.”
The family hasn’t been inside the burned-out building yet, but they expect they won’t be able to recover much. They know that cherished family items and other bits of local history were burned up. On Friday night, a firefighter recovered an old family lamp, covered in soot, and carried it out of the building. Polley said she hoped to restore the piece for her mother.
“The history that was lost is devastating,” Polley said.
Flashbacks built up a collection of local history featuring pictures, yearbooks and other beloved items. Customers would flip through the yearbooks, and reunions would bring people back together. Even the local historical society would come to Tuna with questions, Polley said.
On the front of the Flashbacks building, the words “Thank you for the memories” have been spray-painted on plywood where windows used to be.
“You can’t buy what I’ve got out of here,” Tuna Conrad said. “Just love it. We’re going to miss our customers, the little kids, everybody.”
This story was originally published January 12, 2026 at 7:07 PM.
