Panguitch Quilt Walk

Yesterday our family went to the Panguitch Quilt Walk.  Usually my husband and I go as vendors but this year my parents wanted to run the booth.  It was my mom's birthday so we surprised her with a quick visit.  Westenskow and Sons has been at this show for the past 10 years.  We are always in the same spot, everyone knows where to find us!  

Here is our booth, if you ever see us around stop by and say hi!

Ray & Patty Westenskow, Little K, me & Little A

Panguitch is a little town that has a lot of history, if it wasn't for quilts the first settlement might have starved.  As the story goes the first winter of the settlement the pioneers were running out of food.  Seven men took on the task of going to Parowan, which was on the other side of the mountain.  If you haven't seen mountains in Utah they are big, rugged and difficult to cross even in the best conditions.  As they started up the mountain they couldn't travel very fast because they would sink into the soft snow.  As they knelt in prayer on a quilt the men realized they could walk on the quilts without sinking.  They lined the quilts up and across the mountain they went.  The retrieved supplies from the settlers in Parowan and they went back across the mountain the same way.  The Quilt Walk Festival celebrates their heroism every year.  You can find the official story here.

Statue by Stanley Q. Johnson in Quilt Walk Park

 These two quilts that depict the story are the first quilts you see as you walk into the show.

Quilt Walk by Sheree Walstad

The Quilt Walker by Claudia Crump

 It isn't just a few people in town that put this festival together.  It involves the whole town.  There are quilts like the one below that decorate the main street.

The store fronts have quilts incorporated into their windows.  The Social Hall, which even hosts a dinner theatre about the event, hang quilts for the whole week.  It gives the town a very cozy feel.

We have been there for so many years that if feels like a second home.  The people are friendly and as most of you know if you meet a quilter you have just met a new friend.