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Broomcorn Festival: The Next Generation this month Stanfield named Selmer Parks and Rec Director $9.8 Million generated in 2025 tourism visitor spending
Five Months and 45 Minutes Jack Martin, Hockaday Brooms and the Next Generation of the Broomcorn Festival There are faster ways to make a broom. But that has never really been the point. For Jack Martin, a good broom takes five months and 45 minutes. Five months to plant the broomcorn, watch it grow, harvest it and prepare the straw. Then, in the hands of a craftsman who has spent a lifetime preserving his family's tradition, about 45 minutes to transform that crop into something beautiful, useful and remarkably durable. “It only takes five months and 45 minutes to make a good broom,” Martin says. This month, visitors will once again have an opportunity to see that process, and much more, as the Broomcorn Festival: The Next Generation returns for its second year at the Hockaday farm and workshop near Selmer. More than simply a fall festival, the event is a celebration of a craft, a family and a Southwest Tennessee tradition that has survived for more than a century. A Tradition Still Alive Jack Martin is the fourth generation of his family associated with the broom-making tradition at Hockaday Handmade Brooms. Arts in McNairy calls the nationally recognized craftsman a “national treasure,” and in 2015-16 Martin received the Tennessee Governor's Folklife Heritage Award, the state's highest honor in the arts. His story stretches back generations. Continue reading.............
The Festival returned home After more than a decade Martin's family, especially his grandchildren, helped convince him that perhaps the Broomcorn Festival still had another chapter to write. In 2025, it returned. And fittingly, it went home. Rather than returning to the city park, Broomcorn Festival: The Next Generation was revived at the Hockaday farm and broom workshop where the festival had first begun in 1996. The setting transformed the experience. Here, visitors aren't simply watching someone demonstrate an old craft. They are standing on land where generations of a family have farmed, where broomcorn has grown and where brooms have been made for more than a century. The Tennessee Folklore Society described the revival as something more than nostalgia. The festival celebrates a tradition that is very much alive, one that survived when many similar rural crafts disappeared. That spirit returns Saturday, September 19th with the 2nd Annual Broomcorn Festival: The Next Generation, cosponsored by Jack Martin and Hockaday Handmade Brooms along with Arts in McNairy. The family-friendly gathering continues the festival's original mission with traditional arts and craft demonstrations, live music, food and opportunities to meet the people keeping folk traditions alive. And, of course, there will be brooms. Martin will demonstrate broom making life, giving visitors an upclose look at the equipment, materials and skill behind one of McNairy County's most recognizable folk traditions. For children, it is an opportunity to discover something they may have never seen. For older generations, it may stir memories of a time when farms and rural households produced many of the things they needed. For artists and craftspeople, it is a reminder that innovation and tradition don't have to be enemies. And for Jack Martin, it is another opportunity to do what he has spent much of his life doing: make a good broom and tell the story that comes with it. The Next Generation The name of the revived festival may ultimately tell its story best. Because preservation isn't about freezing something in the past. It is about carrying it forward. A broom-making tradition survived from the Hockadays to Jack Martin because somebody in every generation was willing to learn. The Broomcorn Festival survived because another generation recognized that what was created was worth keeping. Now families will once again gather at the farm. Children will watch broomcorn become a broom. Craftspeople will demonstrate skills that have survived decades, and sometimes centuries. Music will play. Food will be served. Stories will be told. And somewhere in the middle of it all will be Jack Martin, working around century-old equipment in an old broom shed in McNairy County, proving that progress doesn't always mean leaving the old ways behind. Sometimes it means finding a way to carry them with us. After all, some things shouldn't be rushed. It still takes five months and 45 minutes to make a good broom. And more than a century to make a tradition. The Broomcorn Festival: The Next Generation will be held Saturday, September 19th at the Hockaday farm located at 2076 Highway 142 in Selmer, TN. Festivities and demonstrations will begin at 9:00 AM and will go until 5:00 PM.
Stanfield Named Selmer Parks and Recreation Director The Town of Selmer has named Haley Stanfield as its new Parks and Recreation Director following approval by Mayor and the Board of Aldermen during their August meeting. Stanfield comes to the position after serving McNairy County since February 2025 as Parks and Recreation Director and director of the McNairy County Agricultural Event Center. During her time with the county, Stanfield helped oversee a wide variety of events and community activities at the Ag Center, including rodeos, concerts, markets and the 2025 high school graduation ceremonies held at the arena. She also worked alongside numerous nonprofit organizations that utilized the facility to support their programs and fundraising efforts. Her tenure also included coordinating the Ag Center's role in serving McNairy County during storm recovery and disaster response efforts. In announcing her departure from the county, Stanfield said she was proud of what had been accomplished and emphasized that those successes were the result of a community-wide effort. “None of it was ever mine alone,” Stanfield said. “It took County employees, elected officials, volunteers, community partners, and so many people who shared the same vision, stepping up and working together.” Stanfield said the move to Selmer will allow her to remain involved in serving the community while also providing more time for her family. “Ultimately, this move is the best decision for my family,” she said. “It allows me to continue serving our community while also giving me the opportunity to be more present for my children and the things that matter most to them.” Although she is stepping into a new role, Stanfield made it clear her commitment to McNairy County remains unchanged. “I may be serving in a different role, but my love and commitment to McNairy County and the people who call it home aren’t changing,” she said. Stanfield will now bring her experience in recreation, event management, community partnerships and public service to the Town of Selmer as its Parks and Recreation Director.
KIDDY’S PEST CONTROL EST
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CRAWLSPACE SOLUTIONS PEST CONTROL TERMITE CONTROL CRAWSPACE ENCAPSULATION CRAWSPACE SERVICES 731-632-1414 340 OLD LAWTON RD ADAMSVILLE TN ADAMSVILLE, TN 38310
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TOURISM IN MCNAIRY COUNTY GENERATED $9.8 MILLION IN VISITOR SPENDING IN 2025 Visitors to McNairy County generated $9,765,399 in spending in 2025, representing a 16.5% increase over 2024 and outpacing the statewide growth rate of 2.7%, according to newly released data from Tourism Economics and the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development. Statewide, Tennessee’s tourism industry generated a record $32.5 billion in direct visitor spending in 2025 and $3.3 billion in state and local tax revenue. The state’s tourism economy has grown 40% since 2018, nearly double the national growth rate of 22%. In 2025, visitor spending generated $509,312 in local tax revenue for McNairy County and supported 84 jobs across the county. BY THE NUMBERS: ·Direct visitor spending in McNairy County generated $499,922 in state tax revenue. ·Every day, visitors spend $26,755 on lodging, retail, transportation, recreation and dining throughout McNairy County. ·If it were not for state and local taxes generated by tourism, each household in McNairy County would pay $102 more in state and local taxes. ·Visitor-paid taxes support public education and other critical services across Tennessee. ·McNairy County ranked 79 among the 95 counties in Tennessee based on visitor spending.
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