It’s a cool, drizzling morning in Haines and Carol McConahy is stacking the perfect antidote to the chill – a pile of quilts – in her Skyline Drive studio.
For the second year, Southeast Alaska State Fair attendees will not only get to see the quilting talent in Haines, they’ll get the chance to bid on some of the fabric art too.
The idea, and coordination of the whole project, came from McConahy who is also the superintendent of the quilting and sewing division. McConahy, who lived in Fairbanks for 42 years, belonged to a guild there which always held a small quilt auction at the fair.
“It was always kind of a cool thing and a lot of people would come and bid on them,” McConahy said. “It got to be kind of a tradition that people would come and bid every year.”
In the Chilkat Valley, proceeds from the sale go toward a nonprofit or local social cause. Last year, the first year of the auction, proceeds from the quilt sales went toward Jenae’s Playground – a memorial playground for a teacher who died in a landslide in Haines in 2020.
McConahy said they had slightly just over 30 quilts and raised a little over $2100.
Now, she has a committee of women in town who decide who gets the proceeds, and they chose the Haines Hot Shots, the local youth trapshooting league to receive the proceeds from this year’s sale.
The auction has grown since last year too. Sixteen people have contributed 42 quilts for the auction, though they may run out of room. McConahy said she may hold back on hanging some of the 12 she has ready for the effort.
And, she’s hopeful more people will bid on quilts this year. Last year, it took some educating of crowds who came expecting exhibits but not necessarily to be able to buy something.
“As long as I was there explaining – people would say ‘oh I didn’t know these were for sale even though I had big signs up saying ‘small quilt auction,’ McConahy said. “People in town were really clueless about what a small quilt auction was.”