Press Releases

Beauty of the Byways Event

Dec 06, 2012

Kara Lynn Dunn, Great Lakes Seaway Trail Publicist, 315-465-7578
Lynette Lundy-Beck, Great Lakes Seaway Trail Project Leader and Show Manager, 315-646-1000 x203

PRESS RELEASE:
Date - December 12, 2012
Contact: Carla Ward ( 505) 281-5233 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

The Turquoise Trail National Scenic Byway Leaders Invite Local Participation in National Beauty of the Byways Quilt Showcase

The Turquoise Trail, New Mexico - Carla Ward & Patricia Brown are inviting people who love traveling the 67-mile byway to enter a bi-national quilting showcase being organized for 2013 by the Great Lakes Seaway Trail National Scenic Byway.

Quilting as an American cultural heritage tradition is a popular theme for travelers 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.

The National Scenic Byway Foundation, Denver, CO, has endorsed the "Beauty of the Byways" Quilt Show to be held March 16-17 and March 23-24, 2013 at the Great Lakes Seaway Trail Discovery Center and other historic sites in Sackets Harbor, NY.

"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," said National Scenic Byway Foundation President Anaise Berry, director of the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway, Peoria, IL.

There are 150 federally-designated byways across the U.S.

Great Lakes Seaway Trail Quilt Show Project Manager Lynette Lundy-Beck is inviting American, and Canadian, fabric artists and quilters to capture a favorite byway or backroad, landscape or waterfront destination, and scenic, natural, historic, cultural and recreational treasures as discovered by traveling byways in Canada and the U.S.

"Creativity centered on the byways theme will be the hallmark of this 2013 event," says Lundy-Beck. "The byways offer endless possibilities for artistic expression to show off a favorite driving vacation destination or a beautiful byway near your home."

"For example, we may see a Double Irish Chain in shades of blues and greens representing the scenic beauty of a drive along the Great Lakes Seaway Trail or Canada's Kings Highway 2 running along the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. or perhaps someone will create a cowboy pictorial for New Mexico's Billy the Kid Trail. Shades of coral would be lovely to represent Utah's Patchwork Parkway, while the Flint Hills Scenic Byway in Kansas and Canada's grasslands might call a quilter to create a landscape of wildflowers, grasses and prairie chickens. We cannot wait to see what people will share," Lundy-Beck says.

The show's relaxed guidelines invite participation by all ages and skill levels to create a quilted work of any size - miniature to wallhanging to bed quilts, even quilted apparel -- representing the "Beauty of the Byways" theme. Works may be pieced, appliquéd, traditional, contemporary, pictorial, embellished, an art quilt or wearable art.

Entrants are also asked to submit short personal essays or stories to be displayed with each work extolling the virtues of the chosen byway or one's true travel adventure on the byway or telling how the quilt's design blends into fictional tales of waterfront romance, fun in the sun or byway meanderings.

Viewer's Choice and special recognition will be presented to the "Best of the Beauties" from among entries for individual states and provinces.

Lundy-Beck says she has heard from quilters and fabric artists already planning wallhangings, quilts and quilted apparel and accessories for submission to the 2013 event.

Guidelines are posted at http://www.seawaytrail.com/quilting or call 315-646-1000 x 203.

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