Bloomfield is close to Bluegrass Parkway, a town of about a thousand people. But unlike many small towns, this one still has a vibrant business district. There’s Nettie Jarvis Antiques. a famous museum-like shop, along with a department store and a tea room, and the Olde Bloomfield Convention Center, which has an ice cream shop, bowling alley and tavern.
All these old structures have been given new life thanks to one woman, Linda Bruckheimer, wife of famous Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Over the years, he shot blockbusters and she restored the buildings.
“It’s hard to turn a blind eye to what you see and want to do,” she said. “Eventually there will be more stuff.”
Mrs. Bruckheimer, who grew up in Louisville, found Bloomfield by car. As an author and photographer, she loves to travel on country roads and look for the unusual. Her love of roadside rides has led to her latest creation just a couple of miles from the city centre.
Drivers entering Bloomfield from the west drive past the couple’s farm, and many are perplexed when they see the green scene behind the white fence boards.
“It’s another thing that makes Bloomfield unique.
The field looks like a graveyard of John Deere tractors, ten in a row, half buried with their noses in the air. Ms Bruckheimer says she was inspired by an unusual place she loves in Texas – Cadillac Ranch. This prompted her to design what she calls a “Deere John project”, dedicated to the region’s agricultural history.
“A lot of people commute. They don’t want to just drive out on the motorway. They want to see what Kentucky “Kentucky” does, and you never know what it is,” she said. “It’s just something unexpected.”
The tractors planted in the summer of 2020 without too much fuss. They just came and lined up from the oldest to the newest. Mrs Bruckheimer says it’s art, so the important thing is to get people to notice it, even if they don’t realise it.
“I think it lifts people up and makes them smile, and that’s the most important thing to me.”
Even when she’s away at her primary home in Los Angeles, Linda Bruckheimer is always looking for ways to promote Bloomfield and believes that used tractors can still have a lot of traction.
