Pilgrimage to Paducah - My First Quilt Show in Paducah Kentucky

Last Updated on 01/31/24 by Rose Palmer

First published April 29, 2017

It may seem odd that the subject of an inaugural blog post would be about traveling to Paducah, Kentucky, but to a quilter this is near to being a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Exploring the Arts in Paducah , KY – A UNESCO Creative City

I imagine some might be a little challenged to pinpoint Paducah on a map of the US – it’s in Kentucky, across the Ohio river from the southernmost curvy tip of the state of Illinois. The town was laid out and named in 1827 by William Clark of Lewis and Clark fame. Since then it has had diverse history that included riverboats, trains and uranium processing.

But in 2013 UNESCO put Paducah on the world map as a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art, recognizing the city for its role in promoting creativity through quilting and the fiber arts. This puts Paducah in great international company. Other cities in this category include Cairo, Egypt, Limoge, France and Chiang Mai, Thailand just to name a few.

Painted quilt blocks on the windows of an old 5-and-dime store

Modern quilting has come a long way since our grandmother’s patchwork crazy quilts made from recycled scrap fabric. The most recent market survey data (from 2018 – survey is done every 4 years) indicates the US quilting market is worth in excess of 3.7 billion dollars, with about 16 million women and men actively pursuing their fiber art passions – or about one in 20 people. That’s a huge economic punch – and that does not include the economic contributions from quilters around the globe – countries like Australia, Japan, the UK, the Netherlands and others, where quilting is just as popular as in the US.

My AQS Quiltweek in Paducah

Paducah is known as Quilt City USA, and I attended for the quilting event of the year – the annual AQS (American Quilter Society) Quiltweek® event that happens every April. I chose to visit Paducah at this time because I was honored to have one of my quilts accepted as a semifinalist into the Paducah quilt show contest.

There are many juried quilt contests in the US, but this is one of the most prestigious with over $120,000 in prizes and with a $20,000 cash award to the Best of Show winner. For the major award winners, their cash prizes are actually purchase prizes as those quilts become the property of the National Quilt Museum in Paducah.

So, if you think you may have a winning quilt, one that probably took hundreds of hours to make, you have to do some serious soul searching to decide if you would be willing to part with it if it wins a top prize.

Visit the Paducah National Quilt Museum

But, as I found out, there is so much more to do and see in Paducah than just the quilt show.

One of the top attractions in Paducah is the National Quilt Museum. A visit to the Paducah National Quilt Museum will most definitely impress the notion of the Quilt as an Artform, using fabric and thread as the pallet. Indeed, today’s superstar designers of the quilting world are as well known and revered as Picasso, Van Goh, and Monet.

The museum was founded by Bill and Meredith Schroeder, and is the largest facility in the world dedicated to quilting. It exhibits rotating displays from its permanent collection of over 500 quilts, as well as traveling exhibits representing the works of top worldwide fabric artists. The museum also offers educational programs for all ages and skill levels, including programs for youths in grades K-12 and organizations such as 4H and Girl Scouts.

Port of Cassis From the collection of the National Quilt Museum — Port of Cassis
by Lenore Crawford, Midland, Michigan
Machine pieced, painted, fused, raw-edge applique, machine quilted
From the collection of the National Quilt Museum

Corona II: Solar Eclipse, From the collection of the National Quilt Museum — Corona II: Solar Eclipse
by Caryl Bryer Fallert, Paducah, KY
Hand-dyed fabrics; machine pieced and machine quilted.
Named one of the 100 Best American Quilts of the 20th Century.
From the collection of the National Quilt Museum

Quilting however is not the only art on view in Paducah. The city has been drawing in artists through its Artist’s Relocation Program in which the city offered financial incentives for artist to take over and renovate the run down buildings in the historic Lower Town section of the city. As a result, the twenty blocks of Paducah’s historic downtown, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is now a haven for studios and art galleries. And in the nearby Paducah School of Art and Design, local artists and students work side by side, sharing and learning from each other.

The historic buildings of Paducah’s Lower Town have been beautifully restored

Explore Paducah’s Floodwall Murals

The most visible public art in Paducah however is the city’s large floodwall which has become a canvas of over 50 life-sized panoramic murals by Robert Dafford and his Murals Team. With over 350 murals across the US, as well as France, Belgium, England and Canada, he is one of the most prolific mural artists around, and, according to his website, covers more square footage than the Sistine Chapel every couple of years.

Dafford’s recent works have focused on the Ohio River Valley in the US, with murals depicting historical events in Portsmouth Ohio, Covington Kentucky, and other cities along the Ohio River. The Paducah flood wall murals depict in vivid detail the city’s historic events from the time when the Indians lived on the riverbanks, through the passage of the Lewis and Clark expedition, through the time when Paducah was a steamboat and railway hub and finally to the 1950’s when the city became home to a Gaseous Diffusion plant for uranium enrichment.

Paducah’s floodwall helps protect the city from devastating floods<br />like the ones that occurred in 1884, 1913, and 1937. — Paducah’s floodwall helps protect the city from devastating floods
like the ones that occurred in 1884, 1913, and 1937.

A small section of the 50 murals that decorate Paducah’s floodwall

One of the murals depicts downtown as it appeared in the 1940’s

More Big Art in Paducah

Using only a hammer and chisel, artist Peter “Wolf” Toth turned a 56,000 pound red oak log into a 35 foot sculpture honoring the Chickasaw Indians who lived and hunted in the Paducah, KY region.

"Wacinton" sculpture by Peter Wolf Toth — “Wacinton” sculpture by Peter Wolf Toth

The sculpture is titled “Wacinton (pronounced wat-cheen-too) and means “to have understanding”. This sculpture is one of over 70 such statues that make up the ‘Trail of Whispering Giants”. Toth started the project in 1972 with the goal to donate a giant wooden sculpture of a Native American to each state in the union, which he achieved in 1988. He continues to created more statues as well as repairing the older ones.

The Hotel Metropolitan

This little building, now the African American Museum in Paducah, Kentucky, isn’t interesting for the artifacts that it contains inside, but rather for the history of the people that once slept here. Before desegregation, this building, known as the Hotel Metropolitan, was home to many famous African Americans passing through town.

I called to arrange a tour and was enlightened and humbled to learn about the history of this hotel that was built in 1909 by Maggie Steed to provide accommodations for colored guests that could not get lodging in other hotels. Music legends such as Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Holiday, BB King, Ray Charles, and Ike and Tina Turner were some of music’s big names that stayed and played here. I can just hear their jam sessions in my mind. WOW!

The Quilt Show in Paducah Kentucky

But THE BIG event in town was the annual Paducah quilt week show. Paducah’s population of about 25,000 more than doubled during Quiltweek® as over 30,000 US and international quilting enthusiasts engulfed the area to participate in a variety of quilting activities.

The show kicked off with the awards ceremony in the large theater venue of the expo center – an event that presented as much anticipation as an Oscar ceremony in the film industry. The ceremony was presided over by a quilt industry personality MC ( the year I was there Victoria Findlay Wolfe had the honors).

The contest showed over 400 semifinalist quilts with entrants representing almost every state in the unions, as well as numerous international entries from countries such as the UK, Australia and the Netherlands. Not surprising, Japan normally has the second highest number of quilt entries.

I don’t envy the judges’ difficult decisions to pick the winners from the many exquisite pieces. Besides receiving checks, ribbons and bragging rights, the major award winners also received a beautiful engraved crystal trophy vase.

The 5 quilts that received purchase awards in 2017 and became part of the<br />National Quilt Museum’s permanent collection — The 5 quilts that received purchase awards in 2017 and became part of the
National Quilt Museum’s permanent collection

Along with the quilt contests, there were also special quilt themed exhibits like the Lion King Challenge, art quilts from Europe, and quilt exhibits by renowned individual quilt artists. There were numerous classes and workshops for all skill levels and interests taught by world renowned instructors.

Of course there were also plenty of shopping opportunities with a huge vendor mall at the show and many fabric shops within the city to help grow the US industry to that 4+ billion mark (I may have purchased a few items to take home). And besides the main event at the convention center, a variety of other quilt displays and activities occurred throughout the city all week. So much to do – so little time!

A few of the many Lion King themed quilts on display

The largest quilt fabric shop in the US-Hancocks of Paducah. The photo shows only about one fourth of the store

So how did my quilt do in the competition? No award this time. Though I did get to wear a “contestant” ribbon with my name tag while attending the show. With so many quilts in the competition entered by some of the industry’s best artists, I felt honored and humbled to be in such creative and skilled company.

"Ribbon Dance" by Rose Palmer. Semifinalist in 2017 Paducah Quilt Show. — “Ribbon Dance” by Rose Palmer. Semifinalist in 2017 Paducah Quilt Show.

Finally, I would be remiss not to thank Cindy Carey of North Star Quilting for her meticulous longarm quilting of my design.

Tips for visiting AQS Quiltweek Paducah:

Book local hotel accommodations for the AQS Quiltweek early – they sell out quickly.
There were Quiltweek events all around downtown Paducah which is very walkable. The free Quiltweek events guide had all the listings for the week.
There were a number of parking lots available in the downtown area, but they also filled up quickly. I made sure to get there early, parked my car, and then walked to the various locations.
I allowed plenty of time for the whole experience – it is called Quiltweek for a reason.
If you are looking for a unique and artistic place to eat and drink in Paducah check out the Mellow Mushroom in a repurposed Coca Cola bottling plant.
Visit the AQS Paducah Quilt Show page for the latest information or the Paducah Convention and Visitor Bureau page for the Paducah Visitors Guide.

Discover more fun quilting related activities on my Quilting Experiences page.