BROWNSVILLE, Tenn. — A 1950s style diner/drugstore recently opened in April and celebrates the Mid-South with their milkshakes.
Livingston's Soda Fountain and Grill is named after the furniture store that was previously in the building in Haywood County. And now, the owners are celebrating the future of their area as Ford’s Blue Oval City comes to town.
Owner Jack Pettigrew was born in Jackson Mississippi. His family moved him to Haywood County when he was two-years-old. He said he loves his county and his city of Brownsville, and he also loves Ford. Jack said his first car was a Ford Mustang in 1968, and he has a cabinet full of Ford memorabilia in his restaurant.
“The vibe is definitely 50s or 60s vibe. We want it to be a fun place to come,” said Glenda Pettigrew.
The building was built in 1935 as a post office. The Pettigrews bought the building in 2021 and then renovated it into a 1950s diner/drugstore soda fountain. They just opened in April.
Jack and Glenda are both very excited about Ford coming. They are excited about the future of Haywood county and said Ford has embraced their community.
“My wife and I were visiting with one of the gentlemen from Detroit who was here with Ford. He was wanting us to explain about our specialty milkshakes. He didn’t understand what the names meant. We were explaining to him how they correlate with different things in Haywood County. And as we were doing that, one of our employees, Chris Raines walked up and said we ought to develop a Blue Oval milkshake. So the gentleman promptly sent a message to his HR department, who got back to us and offered us that opportunity,” said Jack.
But the real question is, just what is the Blue Oval milkshake?
“Once we had the idea of Blue Oval milkshake, I knew that I wanted it to be blue. My wheels started turning on how I was going to make a blue milkshake, which is more of a challenge than you can imagine,” said Glenda.
“We tried numerous things. And because vanilla ice cream truly isn’t white,” she continued. “It has a yellow tint to it. So when you try to add anything blue to yellow, it is not blue it turns green.”
Then?
“I had the idea of birthday cake because it has a blue swirl. We cover it with sprinkles and blue cookie icing, whip cream, and top it with a cherry and a blue and white sucker.
So is it any good?
“All of my kids. All my waitresses and waiters were test tasters and they loved it,” said Glenda.
“We came here today for my birthday. It’s this weekend. And got a Blue Oval milkshake to celebrate. So, it’s very good,” said customer Elizabeth Miller.
They have other specialty milkshakes that celebrate Haywood County, including Nutbush City Limits, The Delta Dawn, and The Muddy Hatchie River.