The good news is that the rattle is gone from the MBIP Mobile thanks to the finely tuned service department at Bob Lindsey Honda led by Curt Baumgart! Thanks to them for fixing the car up so swiftly and now we’re back on the road!
I decided yesterday to take a trip and a tour through Kelly Seed & Hardware Co. If you’re like me, you’re more than a little anxious for the cold weather to get out of town and for spring to finally be sprung. Well nothing says “spring” like Kelly Seed & Hardware, so I thought if I took a trip there it might help align the weather gods to warm things up here and so away we go!
I’ve done two other MBIP blog posts from Kelly Seed but those were in January and September (see Related Posts below) and this display in the parking lot wasn’t there. It’s something new to see here so let’s go take a look!
This display is entitled “The New American Lawn.” It may be a new American lawn, but eventually some old guy is going to be yelling, “Hey, you kids, get get off my damned lawn!”
Lots of plants and flowers on display out here and at first glance I thought that label said, “Handy Saliva.” I was quite bitter and disappointed when it didn’t turn out to be the case at all.
Here’s some flowers and I'm wondering if Pussy Willow is Pussy Galore’s flowery cousin? The other observation here is that “Himrod” would be a great last name for a male porn star. As in: “Peter Himrod.” Also, Himrod is just seven dangerous letters away from being Nimrod. Okay, that’s all I got here. Oh wait, one more thing: Are you like me and have you been wondering when those damned fruit trees are going to be arriving?
Well, rejoice my friends, the fruit trees have finally arrived! Oh happy day! Okay, that’s enough excitement back here, let’s go around to the front of the store.
Kelly Seed & Hardware Co. has been standing on this corner for over a hundred years and is an iconic, friendly family-owned Peoria business. Everyone loves Kelly Seed and when we go in, you’ll see why!
While it’s name refers to seeds and hardware products, there’s so much more in this store. There’s so many products it’s worthy of a cavalcade, so that’s just what we’re going to roll out here on this MBIP post.
The Kelly Seed & Hardware Co. Cavalcade Part I
There’s everything here from garden gnomes to pink flamingos to stuffed animals to those little corn holders and everything in between. But just as I was getting into this cavalcade....
Suddenly Tape Appears On The Scene!
I love it when that happens. Okay, back to the Kelly Seed Co. Cavalcade of Products!
The Kelly Seed Co. Cavalcade of Products: Part II
More eclectic items on parade including a disco ball, wind chimes, rakes and what appears to be a tub of potatoes, but maybe they’re flower bulbs. I guess I should’ve asked, but if you’re so stinking curious you go in and ask them, I’m not done here yet. Sheesh!
Of course there’s a lot of seed in here including seed made...err...harvested, I’m not sure what the proper phrasing is here, but it’s seed directly from Kelly Seed Co. There’s also loose seed and small pre-packaged home garden seed in here.
Here’s some early signage from years gone by on the top shelving units in the store. The store was first owned and operated by W.G. Kelly. Later in 1956 Harold Church bought the store from Kelly after working there for 20 years.
This is Harold Church’s children, Nancy Vespa and Steve Church and they run the store today. Nancy told me that their family kept the Kelly name as the title out of respect for the Kelly family.Thanks to both of them for letting me take photos and goof around in the store, I love wandering around in here. And thanks also to them for keeping a slice of Peoria history alive and thriving. Now if it’ll only warm up out there! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
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202 Hamilton Blvd.
Peoria
309-674-0368
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Related Posts: Shop Hop Kelly Seed & Hardware and Shop Hop Kelly Seed & Hardware Revisited.