Jiffy Plant - Chelsea, Michigan

4/22/11 (Friday):  Since we got here, we've had only one day that it hasn't rained.  And it's COLD! 

We took a little day trip yesterday (the one dry day) to Chelsea.  We'd gone there last year and just missed the tour of the Jiffy Factory.  We called for a reservation this time.  Great tour!

Prepared for the Tour

While we milled around in the lobby waiting for the tour guide, an elderly woman was talking about how she'd worked at the plant as a teenager.  She earned 45 cents and hour, and said she was happy to get it!  Everyone was talking to her about her experience when the tour guide arrived, and the tour guide was very interested, too.  We had a cup of coffee and an apple cinnamon muffin and then saw a very good video about the history of the plant and its operation.  This is the only Jiffy plant in existence.  It produces 1-1/2 million packages of Jiffy mix per day in its winter busy season.  They mill their own flours, make the mixes and even make their own packages right here in Chelsea, MI.  In the video, the CEO of the company, Howdy Holmes (!), interacted with an animated box of Jiffy Mix to give us a virtual tour of the plant.  When the lights came up after the video, who should appear in the audience but Howdy himself!  He'd been informed about the special member of our tour group and came to introduce himself.  He was a nice guy--answered a few questions and really made us feel special!  The tour guide said he often comes down and sits among the tour members and waits to see if anyone recognizes him!  After the video, we had a tour through the plant (very clean) and were given some boxes of apple cinnamon mix.  Nice!

Chelsea is a nice little town.  The train station still appears to be operational.

There are a number of old factories, many of which have been converted to other uses.  They sure are more appealing than today's factories, aren't they?!  The tower in the background is the clock tower, the focal point of the old town square.  There's now a nice courtyard park and some shops and restaurants there.

This is the Welfare Building, constructed in 1906 as a recreation facility for the workers of the Glazier Stove Company.  It had a swimming pool, billiard hall, basketball court and theater.  Eat your heart out, modern drones!

The old livery stables still had the sign on the back:   "Livery Feed and Barn"--those were the days!

On Wednesday, I had the pleasure of going with Claire and Kristin to the botanic gardens, where we met a couple of her preschool friends.  We enjoyed a bag lunch and then wandered around the conservatory, where it was nice and warm and all kinds of great plants were in bloom.

We're still on hold regarding Wiley's surgery.  We're waiting for the neurologist's office to give us an appointment.  Once we've seen him, we'll know how many tests need to be run and will have a better idea when the surgery will occur.  Wiley's anxious to get it over with.