A Little History About Quilts and County Fairs

I'm so excited to have won two blue ribbons at my local county fair recently! It got me thinking though... what's the story behind quilt competitions at fairs?

My blue ribbon quilts.

I really enjoyed my experience at the fair. It was really special to see my quilts exhibited with other quilts and watch as visitors stood and admired them. My daughters enjoyed seeing their mom's quilts as well as all the other fun things a fair has to offer. I thought, this is so fun, there's got to be a story here about how all this was started. Unfortunately, I was disappointed when I scoured Google for the history of quilt competitions at county fairs, especially since, in previous research, I found that Double Wedding Ring quilts were so popular that they had their own category in the 1930's.

Here's what I found... Elkanah Watson is credited with the name "father of US agricultural fairs" and organized the first county fair in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in 1811. The first fair was an exhibit and competition of animals, primarily oxen, cattle, pigs, and sheep. Thus was born the modern county fair. Today, there are over 2,000 fairs held in North America each year.

And that's it! There's not a whole lot written about the domestic competitions, sometimes known as "Home Economics". While disappointed, I'm not surprised, because a lot of homemaking and crafting of the past was taught through oral tradition, and with a sense of "this is just what we do" practicality.

So... here's how I would imagine quilt competitions (and other domestic competitions) at county fairs was born...

Mrs. Watson probably saw her husband's first fair and thought she and her friends could organize a bit of a competition on their own. They were always sharing recipes and patterns and bragging about who had the best jams and smallest stitches. Well, those ladies joined the agricultural society and formed a whole department for showcasing domestic crafts, including quilts. Some might have said that the quilt competition was more fierce than the livestock competition! There was that lady on the far side of the county that entered a quilt that just blew away the competition, and Mrs. Watson proved to all her friends that her strawberry jam really was the best. That first showcase of domestic crafts drew such a crowd that the agricultural society decided that every year there would be competitions for all sorts of things besides livestock, because these fairs brought the community together by including the whole family in the competition.

Well, there's the story as I would imagine it, but I'm sure it's more interesting than that. Do you have a bit of history to add? Do you have your own county fair quilt competition story? I'd love to hear your stories. Send me an email at lizsmith0305@outlook.com or visit my Facebook page @aquiltedstory.