Making Brooms in Nashville, IN

Yesterday afternoon we went into our little town just to get out into the sunshine and move around a bit. A few tourists were out and about but not too many so luckily it was easy to find a parking place for that huge Ram truck.

A friend of ours just bought one of the older restaurants on the main street and is remodeling it into a restaurant, supper club and sports bar. {They also own and operate a beautiful Spa in town.]

The grand opening is in a couple of days but yesterday it was open with a limited menu for lunch. So we visited a bit and ate lunch. Bill had a Caesar Salad that he said is one of the best he has ever eaten. And I had a very good Garden Salad. I think I’ve mentioned before that the little town rolls up its sidewalks about 6 p.m. so if we want to go out to dinner we have to drive into one of the bigger towns around us. Well this restaurant will now be open at night. Hallelujah. And it seems like they are going to have a good menu. Wishing them the best.

Then we walked around a bit to see what was new and found a broom making shop. What attracted me to it were the walking sticks out front. We’d been looking for nice walking sticks in Mazatlan but couldn’t find any. And here they are.

Walking into the shop called Broomcorn Johnny's, the first thing we saw was the owner, Brian Newton, busy making the sweeping part of a broom. He is working on a rather large broom called a Barn Broom. 

Some information about the sweeping part of the broom. Never knew what they were made of.

Some of the broomcorn waiting to be used.

A big supply of twine to tie the brooms. And a couple of brooms made using the walking stick handles.

The broomcorn has to be weighed out for each style of broom. 8 ounces for a regular broom.

Holding the broomcorn in a machine from 1873! While in here Brian wraps the twine around the broom to hold it in shape. This is what he was doing when we first came in. 

He uses a special tool too pass the twine through the broom to knot it in place.

Bundles of colored broomcorn waiting to become brooms.

A display of colored brooms for sale.

Another machine behind him. I'll have to go back in and ask what it is for. 

This is called a ribbon broom, two different colors. 

Very interesting. They opened their shop just after we left last year in November. Here is their web page link
We live in an interesting little town.