Wednesday, February 21st, 2018
Barn quilts needed to mark Rockford milestone
By Tom Stankard
Photo by Tom Stankard/The Daily Standard
Deb Schumm, Rockford, left, and Rockford Area Development Corporation member Barb Pedroza hold a barn quilt made by Pedroza in front of the Rockford Village Hall on Tuesday.
ROCKFORD - Village residents are encouraged to tap their creative side by making barn quilts as part of the town's 2020 bicentennial celebration.
Instead of being stitched with fabric, the quilts are painted on wood and then hung on the side of a barn or elsewhere on property and can be found in Lima, Spencerville and Berne, Indiana, said Rockford Area Development Corporation member Barb Pedroza. The RADC's goal is to assemble enough artworks to establish a barn quilt trail connecting the three towns and passing through Rockford in time for the bicentennial.
A barn quilt trail "consists of many quilt locations throughout the area which are mapped together and used by travelers," Pedroza said.
Corporation members hope to host at least one bus tour of the trail sometime during Rockford's year-long bicentennial celebration, but plans have not yet been finalized.
Barn quilts have their own unique history that dates back hundreds of years, Pedroza said. Beginning in the early 2000s, these artworks started showing up again. This was also when the first barn quilt trail began in southern Ohio.
The RADC will host a barn quilt class at 9 a.m. March 31 at Rockford United Methodist Church. Attendees will be able to make a small, 1-foot-by-1-foot, version. These quilts usually measure 4-feet-by-4-feet so they can be seen from far away, Deb Schumm of Rockford said.
Preregistration is required as space is limited. Cost is $15 per person and includes all supplies. For more information or to sign up, call 419-363-2720 and leave a message.
Another event being planned for the bicentennial, Pedroza said, is a historic baseball game in which male and female players will wear old-fashioned uniforms and play without gloves.
