 Although the range and variety of downtown shops and businesses changed between 1950 and the farm crisis of the 1980s, the town maintained basic services such as a grocery store, hardware store, real estate and insurance agencies, banks, lumber yard, and agricultural service businesses.In September 1959, Coon Rapids played a role in promoting "détente" between the United States and the Soviet Union, when area resident Roswell Garst hosted Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev on his farm.Twenty-first-century Coon Rapids lives on the tenacity and commitment of its residents.