Crawford Bay

Sunday we played tourist and carpooled 5 cars up to Balfour and took the ferry across Kootenay Lake to Crawford Bay. Our first stop was the North Woven Broom company in their old log barn. Here they make handcrafted brooms from the tassels of the Broomcorn plant. It’s an annual grass (Sorghum vulgare) which is grown in the Torreon region of Mexico. The natural stem in left intact and tightly woven onto a handle with a hand winder for the smaller brooms or an antique broommakers vise for the larger ones. They are very distinctive and one claim to fame is that they sold 75 brooms for a Harry Potter movie.

Barefoot Handweaving Studio and Gallery was next. We saw big floor looms in use and all sorts of different woven items. The building was of straw bale construction and was shown by a ‘porthole’ cutout and the 2 foot thick walls. We also saw metalwork, pottery and glass works.

Then it was back to the ferry with lots of visiting in the line up, and up to Ainsworth Hot Springs. We had a wonderful time in the water and one fun thing was a semi circle tunnel about 6 feet high and wide, you could walk through. Best thing was that 2 of the little kids got their faces in the water for the first time and had fun. They were so pleased with themselves, being just like their older siblings. Our day was complete with a marshmallow roast on the beach that night.