CHAUTAUQUA - The Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau is encouraging quilters to feature the diverse scenic, natural, historic and recreational resources of Chautauqua County in entries for the 2013 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Beauty of the Byways-themed Quilt Show. The Chautauqua region is a popular destination on the Great Lakes Seaway Trail National Scenic Byway, the 518-mile leisure driving and boating route along the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes in New York and Pennsylvania.
Quilting as an American cultural heritage tradition is a popular theme for travelers on the byway. The Amish quilters of Chautauqua County were featured at the 2002 and 2006 Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Shows. Dunkirk Lighthouse was among the original designs of Great Lakes Seaway Trail Lighthouse quilt patterns and notecards by Mary Knapp at the first Great Lakes Seaway Trail Show in 2001.
For the 2013 show, Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show Manager Lynette Lundy-Beck, project manager for Seaway Trail, Inc., Sackets Harbor, is inviting American and Canadian fabric artists and quilters to enter works of any size - pieced, appliqued, traditional, pictorial, contemporary, embellished; art quilts; or wearable art showcasing a favorite byway or back road.
The show is expanding to two weekends March 16-17 and March 23-24, 2013, and is adding historic site venues in Sackets Harbor. The 2013 show's relaxed guidelines invite participation by all ages and skill levels.
The show, also known as a cultural storytelling event, will display short personal essays or stories with each work extolling the factual virtues of the chosen byway, one's own travel adventure on the byway, or how the quilt's design blends into fictional tales of waterfront romance, fun in the sun or byway meanderings.
The National Scenic Byway Foundation, Peoria, Ill., has endorsed the Beauty of the Byways theme. National Scenic Byway Foundation President Anaise Berry, director of the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway, Peoria, says, "This Great Lakes Seaway Trail quilting event creates a unique way to increase awareness of the diversity of the byway experiences available across America and to inspire travel which, in turn, creates positive economic impact in byway communities."
Entry information and guidelines are online at seawaytrail.com/quilting or call 646-1000, ext. 203 for more details.