Have you visited the Angus Branch lately? You might have noticed something new about the outside of our building. The Essa Public Library recently installed our very own Barn Quilt!
What is a barn quilt? It is a piece or pieces of wood or aluminum painted to resemble a quilt square and are traditionally hung on the side of a barn. The idea was first put into motion by Ohio resident, Donna Sue Groves. She loved barns and quilts, so the two seemed like a perfect fit. She and her mother put together the idea of a quilt square on the side of their dull tobacco farm barn to brighten it up. Over the next few years, this became a tourism project for the area and now there are over 7000 barn quilts in North America.
This creative idea has spread across many areas and has made it to rural Southern Ontario too. There is even an official trail to bring community members and tourists to rural and small communities to search for barn quilts. Many areas have official trails with maps and coordinates you can follow to try and find them. Simcoe County has its own trail and you can access the map here. There are over 150 barn quilts in Simcoe County alone. Our barn quilt will be posted on the map soon.
Each quilt square has been hand-painted and designed and many have special meanings to those who’ve created them. Essa Public Library’s square was designed by Ruth Hurdle. It is a celebration of reading and the three colours used are the same colours we use in our branding; Imagine. Discover. Connect. In order to have a barn quilt we needed a place visible from the road; you can see ours on the south side of the building facing County Road 10. And because we’re a public building lots of people from the community can see it. Our quilt was painted by our staff and we are so proud to be a part of the Simcoe County Barn Quilt Trail.
This project is sponsored by Tourism Simcoe County and the Simcoe County Federation of Agriculture and was created at no cost to the library. Paint colours for the barn quilts have been provided by Dulux through their Colourful Communities program. The next time you visit the Angus Branch, look for our square. You can enjoy the Simcoe County Barn Quilt Trail all year long from South Schomberg to North Midland; to see the map, visit the link here. For more information about the barn quilt movement and their history in Canada, enjoy this article from Small Farm Canada.
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