Quilt Show Setup has Begun

While the water is rising in the Ohio River, the AQS staff is busy with alternate preparations for the 27th AQS Quilt Show & Contest. Yesterday we had a 12-hour period to decide what we would do when the city told us they were planning to install the flood gates in our flood wall and that we must evacuate the Expo Center and Convention Center, both of which sit on the river side of the flood wall.

After visiting a variety of buildings and churches, here are the alternate plans we have in place:

Pavilion (also known as the Marshmallow) in downtown Paducah:

• Vendors who were in the Expo Center will be moved to the Pavilion.
• Best of Show and other top awards in the large quilt categories, all of the quilts in 9 categories and their winners, plus the Best Miniature and the miniature category will be displayed here.
• Admissions, Workshops, and AQS Membership Desks will be at the front of the Pavilion, as well as the First Aid Station, Package Check, and the Paducah Visitors Bureau.
• Certified quilt appraisers will be on hand to appraise quilts - this booth is located on the last aisle of the Pavilion.
• American Quilter editors will also be located on the last aisle of the Pavilion.
• The Quilt Life editor Jan Magee will have a booth next to the Ricky Tims' booth in the Pavilion. You can subscribe and meet Ricky Tims too.

Office Max building at Kentucky Oaks Mall:

• Vendors who were in the Pavilion will be moved to the Office Max Building.
• Winners of the 2011 AQS Lancaster Quilt Show, and the 2012 Pilgrim/Roy Challenge will be on display.

Circuit City building at Kentucky Oaks Mall:

• Vendors who were in the Convention Center (1st and 2nd floors) will be located here.
• Special quilt exhibits include the Alliance for American Quilts Contest quilts, and the AQS Authors' Quilt Exhibit.

Food Tent:
No Paducah quilt show is complete without some southern barbeque, strawberry shortcake, ribs from Larry-Larry & Darrell, and many other treats. We couldn't disappoint you there either. We will have them all, but they will move just a couple of blocks - to the parking lot on 2nd Street, just behind the National Quilt Museum.

Live Quilt Auction:
One change is that the Live Quilt Auction will be held inside the National Quilt Museum, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on Thursday. Enjoy a grilled chicken dinner at the Food Tent from 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. and then head across the street to the museum for the auction.

AQS School of Quiltmaking:
All classes - workshops and lectures - will be held at the 1st Baptist Church, 2890 Broadway. There is plenty of parking on three sides of the building. Look the AQS Quilt Show sandwich board sign for the entrance.

• Lectures will be held in the Chapel on the first floor.
• The Best Wall Quilt and all of the entries in the small wall categories will be displayed in the Great Room on the first floor of the church.
• All workshops will be held in ten classrooms on the second  floor of the church; there is an elevator just inside the entrance for easy access to the classrooms.
• Special Events being held at the 1st Baptist Church include the All-Star Review, the AQS Authors' Roundtable, Stitched - the Movie, and the evening with Charlotte Angotti. All of these events will take place in the Chapel/Lecture Hall.
• If you have any questions, Educator Coordinator Marcelle Cashon, Klaudeen Hansen, and Sylvia Thomas will be at the church to assist you.

Special Events at the Carson Four Rivers Center:
All activities at the Carson Center will be held as scheduled. Shuttle service from the AQS Bus Stop at the Pavilion will begin 45 minutes prior to the start of the events.

There will be shuttle service to all of these venues, plus the AQS Vendors on Kentucky (Finkel Building) where more vendors and the AQS "Hurt Book" Sales are located.  The bus drivers can tell you which route they are running and where they can stop.

If you need to pick up your advanced registration packet, a name badge holder, and wish to purchase tickets for workshops, lectures, or special events, check at the Workshop Desk inside the entrance to the Pavilion. The Workshop Desk will be open from 12 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 25, and from 8 a.m. to close on show days.

Tomorrow the quilts will be hung and the winners of the AQS Quilt Contest will be announced at the Carson Four Rivers Center, 5:30 - 7:00 p.m., and the show officially opens at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday.

Phew... what a week, but we did it. We can't wait for you all to see the beautiful quilts on display this year!

See you at the show!

Bonnie Browning
Executive Show Director

Paducah Online Registration is Now OPEN

Making your plans to attend the 27th Annual AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, Kentucky, April 27 - 30, 2011?

Come experience four days of quilts! quilts! quilts! and the southern hospitality of Paducah and western Kentucky. You will want to spend several days seeing the quilts and vendors in the Paducah Expo Center, Julian Carroll Convention Center (two floors), the Pavilion, and the AQS Vendors on Kentucky in the Finkel Building. The National Quilt Museum is a 'must see' stop on your agenda too.

Click here to view all of the wonderful classes, lectures, and special events - after you have checked out what is available, just click on the pink button to go directly to online registration:



Once you are in the registration program, you will find all of the class descriptions, supply lists, and photos of the class projects. Just a reminder that many of the classes will fill quickly, so don't delay in reserving your seat.

You can print a copy of the Paducah Registration Guide here.

If you need assistance with lodging, click here for the listing of AQS-approved accommodations on the website of the Paducah Visitors Bureau. If you can't find a hotel room, consider the AQS Home Bed and Breakfast that is coordinated by the Visitors Bureau; request forms will be available on their website on February 1, 2011.

Paducah Update...

Here is an update on the convention facilities for the Paducah Quilt Show:
In December, the city of Paducah purchased the Executive Inn from the mortgage holder, Logan Asset Backed Fund, for $1.8 million. The city estimates it will spend another $1.8 for demolition, liens, and other expenses. The city will be seeking developers to build a new hotel in downtown Paducah.

The Quilt Show will use the Paducah Expo Center (quilts and vendors), the Julian Carroll Convention Center (quilts and vendors), and a NEW 40,000 square foot air dome Pavilion (quilts and vendors); plus the AQS Vendors on Kentucky will be located in the Finkel Building (vendors and the AQS "Hurt" book sale).

The NEW Pavilion is being constructed now, but the manufacturer provided us with some photos of another installation. The Pavilion will be 140 feet wide x 270 feet long x 43 feet high (that's four stories). This huge new facility will house the vendors who were located in the Galleria (in the Executive Inn) last year, plus a special exhibit by Kaffe Fassett, and the 2009 winners of the AQS/Hobbs Bonded Fibers Fashion Show. Your show admission gives you access to the Pavilion, as well as the Expo Center and Convention Center areas.

This is a sample of the type of Pavilion we will have to house vendors and some special quilt exhibits.

The interior of a Pavilion is set with vendor booths. Aisles will be carpeted and it will have air conditioning/heat as needed.

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Purchase your show admission in advance:

You can save time and money by ordering your show admission in advance.

Advanced Admission is: $8 daily or $15 multi-day for AQS Members; $10 daily or $30 multi-day for Non-members.

At the Door Admission is: $9 daily or $17 multi-day for AQS Members; $11 daily or $30 multi-day for Non-members.

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Sometimes the lines are long waiting to pay admission; register for the show (including your show admission) by March 10 and you'll receive a name badge with your admission on it via mail - no waiting in lines at all. Note: All international registrations are held for pickup at the show. Click here to go directly to registration for the quilt show.

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We are excited to have the NEW Pavilion available for this year's quilt show. There will be plenty of quilts to see and vendors to visit for shopping.

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Make your plans today to attend the 26th Annual AQS Quilt Show in Paducah, Kentucky!

Yes, Virginia, There Will Be a Quilt Show in Paducah!

The Paducah City Commission has been hard at work on a resolution to the now-closed Executive Inn, and to provide alternate facilities for the AQS Quilt Show. At last night's Commission meeting several actions were approved - see the notes below from Pam Spencer, City Information Officer.

Purchase of Executive Inn: Commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance to purchase the Executive Inn from the mortgage-holder, Logan Asset Backed Fund, in the amount of $1.8 million. The Convention Center Corporation owns the land that is occupied by the hotel and convention centers. Commissioners also unanimously approved an ordinance to acquire the land that the Executive Inn sits on from the Convention Center Corporation. In addition to the purchase price of $1.8 million, the City expects to spend an additional estimated $1.8 million for demolition, liens, and other hotel expenses. The Executive Inn closed in September 2008 and briefly reopened for the Quilt Show and a few other conventions in 2009. Before voting, Mayor Paxton discussed the City’s commitment for providing a pavilion due to the lack of the vendor space that the Executive Inn has provided in the past. Paxton asked Meredith Schroeder co-founder of the American Quilter’s Society to make a statement about AQS’s five-year commitment to keeping the Quilt Show in Paducah. Schroeder says, “Paducah’s home. We want the show here. We think it’s a benefit for the City. We don’t want to move.” Mayor Paxton then thanked the Commission for its hard work over the past year. Paxton says, “Starting in January of this year, we started working on what we were going to do about this hotel. We all decided we were going to do what was best for the City.”

At this meeting and the previous meeting Downtown Development Director, Steve Doolittle, outlined the history and ownership of the property, the importance of tourism for Paducah, and the importance of the City/County investment into the Julian Carroll Convention Center and the Expo Center. Here are some of the highlights from those presentations: The Julian Carroll Convention Center (51,000 square feet) is connected to the Executive Inn. Earlier this year, the facility was renovated for $5 million by the City and County.
· The $6.5 million Expo Center (50,000 square feet) was built in 2002.
· The convention center facilities and the Executive Inn sit on a publicly owned 27-acre site.
· Paducah is 8th in Kentucky tourism out of the State’s 120 counties.
· Paducah ranks 4th in the State for the amount of convention center space.
· Tourism in the Paducah area generates approximately 3000 jobs with tourism expenditures nearing $200 million per year.
· The AQS Quilt Show provides an impact of $20 million per year to the area.
· Paducah has 30 hotels with 2500 rooms and 200 eating establishments. Together the hotels and restaurants generate $142 million in annual sales and $39.4 million in annual salaries.
· Approximately 20% of the Carson Center’s 60,000 annual visitors travel more than 100 miles. The travel distance means the visitors will more than likely spend the night in Paducah.
· Regarding the Executive Inn, the City is not working with another hotelier, does not plan to operate the facility, and has not negotiated with Mr. Singh.
· Doolittle also outlined upcoming decisions for the Commission including maintaining security and fire protection for the hotel, liquidation, and demolition.

Purchase of Pavilion: Commissioners unanimously approved an ordinance to purchase a 37,800 square foot air dome pavilion from Arizon Structures of St. Louis, Missouri. The pavilion structure will be used, among other things, to house vendors for the 2010 AQS Quilt Show and Contest. The cost of the pavilion is $807,929. The City has an agreement with Arizon that states Arizon will give the city an option of buying back the pavilion 24 months after installation. The price would be determined by taking 80% of the average of three appraisals of the pavilion’s value at that time. There will be additional costs associated with the site preparation, furniture and amenities, and installation.

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Here is a link to WPSD Local 6 TV for their 10 p.m. news broadcast on December 15: http://www.wpsdlocal6.com/news/local/79373637.html