By NICK YAMASHITA
The Progress
You would think that with a community settled by pioneers, such events would be commonplace. But during the weekend of Oct. 8-9 the Old Logandale School Historical and Cultural Society (OLSHACS) held the first annual Moapa Valley Quilt Show in the auditorium at the Old Logandale School.
The event started on Friday, October 8 with a display-only show which was organized by Logandale resident Carolyn Marshall and OLSHACS Director Robin Maughan. The event went from 10 am until 5 pm and then repeated the same times again on Saturday, October 9.
“We definitely had less (attendance) on Friday than Saturday,” said Maughan. “But we still had over 200 people attend. We even had people come from as far as Cedar City come just for this.”
The initial plans for the show was to have about 50 quilts on display. But in the end there were 120 quilts entered. Thirty-six different quilters participated in the event, all local residents.
“We were amazed when we got more than fifty entered,” said Maughan. “We have been very blessed to help pull off this inaugural event and have it be so successful.”
The quilts ranged from hand-sewn to machine sewn. Themes ranged from patriotic to family ancestry; country life to animals and much more. A huge variety was available and attendees thoroughly said that they throroughly enjoyed it.
“We had attendees from St. George and Southern Utah tell us our show and displays were way better than the Washington County Fair,” exclaimed Maughan. “That right there just made our hearts leap and realize this was a success.”
Though the event had no awards given out this year, they still hope for possible awards in future, as they plan on making this an annual event.
“There just were so many amazing quilts of high quality,” said Maughan. “We couldn’t just pick one to win, so we are grateful we advertised it as a show and not a contest.”
Though it was “Display Only”, there were some vendors who paid for booths at the event in order to sell quilts and quilting supplies. Along with that, those vendors also were present to give advice and help any attendees who had questions about the skill and talent.
A couple of cool entries were done by one middle schooler, one high schooler, and their grandmother as they each showed off their skill and the passing down of a hobby through the generations. These beautiful entries were done by Meg Evans, Alisha Conger, and their grandmother Beverly Evans.
“The cool part was seeing locals, especially the non-quilters, coming in and having the amazed expressions on their face and even realizing that some people they knew quilted,” stated Maughan.
Maughan said that plans are already in the works for the event to be held again next year.
Maughan and Marshall wanted to express appreciation to sponsor Home Hardware, some longarm quilters, and local community members for giving donations for a raffle that was offered at the event.
Also a big thanks to the Senior Center and local restaurants for donations of empty food storage cans for helping make the arrangement mounts and display racks.
“We hope we helped inspire people to start quilting or even get more involved in this wonderful hobby,” said Maughan. “If anyone wants to learn more we do offer a beginner’s class and you can contact us.”
For more information about next year’s show, contact Robin Maughan at (702) 398-7272.
