Hundreds of people from Grant County and beyond traveled to the Grant County Fairgrounds in John Day for the annual Best of the Old West Quilt Show and Harvest Festival on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20 and 21.

This year marks the fourth time the annual events have been held at the fairgrounds.

Some 39 exhibitors and 119 quilts were displayed at Trowbridge Pavilion for the quilt show, which was organized by the Strawberry Mountain Quilt Guild. The event featured quilts from around Grant County, elsewhere in Oregon and even Washington.

“We have quilters here from Baker, Burns and Umatilla County. We have them from Pilot Rock,” said Samni Bell, a co-organizer of the event for the Strawberry Mountain Quilt Guild and owner of BellyAcres Twisted Stitchery in Mt. Vernon. “We have them all here so we all bond together to do a lot of community work. When people have problems, like when people lose their place in a fire, we provide quilts for the families.”

Many visitors to the quilt show and harvest fest also came from outside Grant County. Janice and Jim Long, of Woodburn, drove out from the Willamette Valley this year because they loved last year’s experience.

“I have some best friends that are quilters,” Janice Long said. “We came accidentally a couple of years ago. We’ve come the last two years. … this year it was planned.”

Jim explained the couple were camping at Clyde Holliday State Recreational Site last year.

“We heard there was a harvest festival and we came out to look at the quilts, and it was so much fun that we thought, ‘Let’s go back another year,’” he said. “It’s wonderful.”

Janice added: “And all the creativity and all the hard work, and the colors and the designs — it’s just beautiful.”

Quilters who enter the show compete for gift baskets valued at $250-$300 in three categories: Grant County, Hand Quilted and Beyond Our Borders. In addition, a drawing was held for the winners of the Barn Quilt Block Walk.

In that event, a kind of scavenger hunt that started in July, quilt blocks are displayed at various local businesses. Participants received a flier from the Grant County Chamber of Commerce, then collected signatures from participating businesses to qualify for the prize drawing.

Proceeds from the event will go to buy materials for the 36-member Strawberry Mountain Quilt Guild’s ongoing charity work of making quilts for babies born at Blue Mountain Hospital, children in foster care and families in need. Mary Jones, secretary of the guild and a co-organizer for the event, said about 400 to 450 people turned out for the quilt show this year.

“This brings the ability for all of us to work together to share ideas,” Bell said. “We share a lot of work toward the hospital. We make baby quilts for the newborns.”

Around 40 vendors set up shop in the Heritage Barn for the Harvest Festival, which featured everything from food, live music and homemade jams and jellies to craft jewelry and apparel. The Harvest Festival marks the culmination of the Grant County Farmers Market, which ran on Saturdays beginning in June in Canyon City.

Jill Reeves of Canyon City, one of the organizers of the market and the Harvest Festival, said she expected about 500 visitors to the festival this year.

“It allows a lot of vendors to show their wares without having a storefront, and it exposes their business to more customers,” Reeves said. “Usually, this is kind of the kickoff of the craft fair season. … This is where you can practice for all the bazaars coming up.”

Slide Mountain Beef, which sells USDA-inspected beef directly to consumers from Prairie City, was among the dozens of vendors with a booth at the event.

“I think it’s nice to give the locals another opportunity to sell and buy, and I feel like there’s never really been an event in the fall that I know of,” said Amy Black, co-manager of Slide Mountain Beef. “It’s nice to have this seasonal event.”

The pumpkin patch at the John Day Community Garden, just east of the fairgrounds on Third Avenue, was open from 3 to 5 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday.

The garden gave away free pumpkins and offered art activities for children, refreshments and a story walk sponsored by the Grant County Library Foundation.

Viewers Choice:

Grant County

Tie: Trace Andrew and Karen Jones

Hand Quilted

Reba Miller 

Beyond Our Border (outside of Grant County)

Kristi Rickman

Barn Quilt Block Walk drawing

First Place: $200 cash won by Linda Pifer

Second Place: Chester’s $100 gift certificate won by Robin Campbell

Third Place: $100 Grant County greenback won by Peggy Molnar