At first glance, Main Street in Arcola doesn’t appear to be much different from the several other small town main streets that can be found east-central Illinois. It’s still a brick road lined with two-story brick facades.
There will soon be one major difference: The Arcola Broom Palace.
“We decided that perhaps a palace, similar to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota, might be a good tourist attraction,” said Pat Monahan, the project leader. “We’re finding great interest in it already.”
Arcola is considered the broomcorn capital of the U.S. because it once produced 40 percent of the nation’s broomcorn, he said.
The Broom Palace is the latest attraction celebrating Arcola’s connection to broomcorn. The town already boasts a small broom museum, painted fiberglass brooms on several street corners, and hosts the annual Broomcorn Fesitval, which is more than 50 years in the running..
The Palace, set to open in Spring 2025, will house a retail store for the locally operated Libman Company, a town museum and a display of handmade craft brooms, according to Monahan. The hope is that it will be a better experience for tourists than the Corn Palace in Mitchell, South Dakota.
“They have a gymnasium and a gift shop, but there’s not really much for a tourist to see,” Monahan said.
Making craft brooms is a folk art, he said, estimating that there are now about 200 craft broom makers in the U.S.
“None of them are getting rich, but they’re all enjoying the work, and they really make some works of art,” Monahan said. “I tell people ‘instead of buying a picture, you should buy a broom and hang it on your wall.’ Even if you don’t use it, it’s something different, it’s American history.”
Currently, any tourist seeking information about brooms and the town’s history must explore the local depot, where more than 700 brooms are displayed, according to Vicki Gilbert, who runs the front desk.
The depot also contains displays about various other aspects of local history, such as Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls, which were created by Arcola native Johnny Gruelle.
The Lawn Rangers, whose broom twirling and lawn mowing displays have been a fixture of parades nationwide for decades, also have a spot at the depot. Monahan was one of the group’s founders more than 40 years ago.
“After watching the [Broomcorn Festival] parade and heckling a few of the old cars, we figured we ought to be in the parade,” Monahan said of the Rangers. “We took an inventory of our skills, and found out that pushing lawn mowers and twirling brooms was about the best we could do.”
Whether the displays at the depot will be relocated to the palace remains to be seen, but Monahan said it would be difficult to keep both tourist stops operating in a town of Arcola’s size.
When the Palace does open, its hours of operation will be Thursday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday 12 p.m. to 6 p.m.; admission will be free, according to a news release on the town’s website.