“Trading Cards”
One of the few pleasures in pushing 80 is that you get to revert to your childhood without being subjected to criticism. Up to 80 you are expected to act your age. This week, jumping the age thing by a couple of years, and therefore not being immune from criticism, I indulged in one of my childhood pleasures: making those model airplanes out of balsa sticks and, in the process, reliving the days when flying must have been exciting instead of just a monumental hassle. Daughter Alyson gave the model to me 17 years ago in anticipation of my retirement and I wanted to finish it before she retired. The only downside in reverting to the past is that the wingspan of this particular model of the Jenny JN-4 is 36 inches, two inches less than the space I have to build it in, a result of downsizing.
Downsizing has its upsides. It’s freed Carole up to increase her volunteer time and her devotion to quilting. This was the week Carole got to showcase her work to her fellow quilt guild members. She had a lot to show. Her thimble collection, her trading cards, which are clever tiny quilt-like constructions intended to stretch the imagination, and, of course, one of her favorite quilts. As she prepared for her presentation, it got me to thinking about quilting. In fact, I think about quilting quite a bit because living with a quilter has increased my curiosity about this traditional craft.
I no longer think for myself. Everything comes straight from my smart phone, on which I can simply say OK Google and it magically does my research for me. According to the Internet, there are 35 quilt and/or fabric/sewing shops in the Triade. There are a total of 52 craft shops, which includes the quilt/fabric shops. Conclusion? There are a lot of quilters in the Triade and a good many of them belong to at least six quilt guilds in Forsyth County. (Disclaimer: I could not find a directory of Winston-Salem quilt guilds on the Internet. Surely one must exist somewhere.) Without a directory, it is impossible to accurately estimate the number of quilters in and around Winston-Salem. So let’s take a guess. If there are 35 quilt-related shops in the Triade and each had 100 customers buying fabric, etc., each month then that would mean there were 42,000 sales annually. If you multiply 42,000 by $219, the average that all quilters spend per year, that would add up to $9,198,000 in sales annually in the Triade.
OK, OK, I’m playing with numbers. But it’s fun, so let’s skip to the fewer dedicated quilters, who each spend, according to a study conducted in 2010, $2,442 annually on their compulsion…er, avocation. Let’s assume of the 42,000 sales by our area’s quilt/fabric shops annually, one-quarter of them are dedicated quilters, a total of about 10,250, then sales to that group would amount to $25,030,500 plus $6,734,250 from sometime quilters and the numbers begin to look like the national debt.
So what’s my point? Before someone points out that I might have too much time on my hands (how can anyone at my age have too much time?) I would suggest that not only is quilting an important economic asset to Winston-Salem, it could become even more so if the city were a destination for a MAJOR QUILT SHOW. There are over 21 million dedicated quilters in America. They go to MAJOR QUILT SHOWS in Houston and, closer to home, Hampton Roads, Virginia. They spend some of that $91,602 average household income on hotels, restaurants, and quilting supplies at these shows.
Surely this gold has been mined by our tourist folks. However, I could be wrong. I Googled Quilt Shows in Winston-Salem and found the Winston-Salem North Carolina Quilt Show sponsored by the Forsyth Piecers and Quilters Guild held in the Presbyterian Church at Silas Creek Pky and Kirklees in May of even-numbered years. We’ve been. It’s a great show. Moreover, it is a popular show, judging by the number of people there when we were. And it proves my point. An annual really big quilt show held in a downtown venue just might attract a lot more people and a bigger number of them from OUT OF TOWN.
It must be acknowledged that mounting a quilt show is a laborious enterprise requiring the logistical sophistication on the order of the Normandy Invasion. But, having been around quilters for years, I am convinced that if they had organized the Normandy Invasion, they would have had the German army doing applique within two days.
So, I have to wonder why Winston-Salem tourism advocates haven’t exploited the quilting opportunity. Is it because most of them are MEN? I’m just saying. Actually, I’m just asking.
The post How About a Reeely BIG Show? appeared first on Warren Dunn.