In the late 19th century there were two broom factories in Jefferson. They’re long gone, but the craft of making brooms lives on, and on Sunday, March 26, at the Greene County Museum, a 21st-century broom maker with Greene County ties will demonstrate how she makes the household tool.
Shannon Bardole-Foley, daughter of Dick Bardole of Rippey, took up broom making after spending a summer as a college intern at Living History Farms in Des Moines. She makes several varieties of brooms— house, whisk and hearth —as well as cake testers. You’ll learn what a broom cake tester is when you attend the 2 pm program.
The event will include a history of Jefferson’s glory days of broom making presented by Margaret Hamilton, program chair for the Historical Society.
Unlike many of today’s plastic brooms, a broom made of broom corn attached to a long and sturdy wooden handle, actually does sweep clean.
The business end of such a broom is made of broom corn, a variety of sorghum that has stiff stems and grows 10 or 12 feet high. When harvested and dried, and divested of its seeds, the stalks are bound together to form broom heads and attached to wooden handles.
It’s almost time for spring cleaning, so a new broom, a solid tool made for sweeping the kitchen, the garage or the sidewalk in front of your house, may be in your future after you enjoy this free and enlightening program.
