Barn Quilts of Washington County has received its first donation. The Chilcote Questers group kicked off the fundraising campaign by presenting a check for $250 to Julie Mangold, co-chair of the barn quilt committee.
Barn Quilts of Washington County is a new county-wide project designed to celebrate and promote the culture, heritage and progressive nature of Washington County by placing quilt blocks on barns and other suitable buildings throughout the county.
“This project has met with a lot of support and enthusiasm since we met for the first time less than a month ago,” said Julie Mangold. “The Washington County Board of Supervisors has given us their blessing. We are getting letters of support from organizations throughout the county. And, we greatly appreciate the Chilcote Questers getting us started financially,” commented Mangold.
What else makes the project so exciting to Mangold is the enthusiasm of people that are making up the committee. She also points out the diverse make up of the committee including people from all over Washington County. “We have a web page designer, we have carpenters, we have a media person, we have a grant writer, we have quilting experts, we have county historians, we have artists…we literally have all the different elements needed to make this project a huge success,” Mangold said.
And best of all, Mangold noted, Washington County has great barns. According to the Iowa Barn Foundation the state is loosing over 1000 barns a year. “We hope to encourage our barn owners to preserve their barns,” says Mangold.
The group has already been taking pictures of potential barns along the first phase route. Soon they will be contacting barn owners to see if they would be willing to participate in the project.
The project will be completed in phases with the first phase including a route from Washington to Riverside to Kalona and back to Washington. A separate route will run down Highway 218 drawing people in to Washington County. The barn quilt blocks in the first phase route will highlight the traditional colors and patterns of Amish quilts found in this area of the county.
The committee is partnering with the Washington Tourism Committee and Washington County Extension in this project. The group is still looking for interested persons to help with all phases of the project. The next meeting will be February 22 at the Washington County Extension office. For information on this project contact the Extension office at 319-653-4811.
Picture Cutline:
Julie Mangold (front left), barn quilt committee co-chair, accepts a $250 check from Chilcote Quester president, Wendy Langan (front right).