MORE THAN 500 ARTFUL QUILTS EXPECTED AT A MOUNTAIN QUILTFEST IN PIGEON FORGE

PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. – More than 500 artfully designed and carefully stitched quilts will compete for more than $20,000 in prize money at the 23rd A Mountain Quiltfest March 21-25 in Pigeon Forge. The five-day event is one of the biggest of its kind in the U.S.

A Mountain Quiltfest will feature more than 60 classes and lectures about America’s popular folk art taught by world-class instructors. There is a fee for classes, but admission to the quilt displays and a vendor mall is free.

New in 2017, award-winning cowgirl poet Yvonne Hollenbeck and “the first lady of Western music” Jean Prescott will present five classes at A Mountain Quiltfest. Performing together, Hollenbeck and Prescott share the history of the Western prairie through song and poetry alongside historic photographs of quilters as well as generations-old quilts, including Hollenbeck’s collection of family quilts that spans 140 years. A free session hosted by the duo noon March 23 features Hollenbeck’s collection of aprons made from vintage feed sacks.

Twenty quilt categories will be displayed, including ones with this year’s special theme – two fabrics.

Displays and the festival’s classes, demonstrations and special activities are in the LeConte Center at Pigeon Forge, the city’s 232,000-square-foot events facility.

In addition to the classes, guests can get appraisals of quilts that are family heirlooms.

Candace St. Lawrence, an American Quilter’s Society certified appraiser, will appraise quilts on March 21-25 by appointment. (Make appointments by contacting Lana Bowes at 865-429-7350 or lbowes@CityOfPigeonForge.com.)

Several antique quilt bed turnings are scheduled during the event. These are sessions where local quilters and guild members offer detailed information about collections of quilts made before 1966.

For more information on A Mountain Quiltfest, visit www.MyPigeonForge.com/events/quiltfest.

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