Paducah, Part I

In my posts up to now I've tried to avoid a lot of "inside baseball" talk regarding the quilt show circuit.  It's mostly technical stuff and not real interesting unless you're in the business.  However, I do need to give you some background regarding the American Quilters Society (AQS) show in Paducah, Kentucky so you can better understand what we went through and why we were so thrilled to be there.

Paducah, Kentucky (population 25,000) is the home of  the AQS, (one of the world's largest publishers of quilting books and magazines), the National Quilt Museum, Eleanor Burns, the first lady of quilting TV shows, and Hancock's of Paducah one of the largest quilt shops in the country.  One week each year, the population of Paducah literally doubles as quilting enthusiasts from around the world descend on the town. The prize for the Best in Show quilt is $20,000 and a spot in the National Quilt Museum. The AQS sponsors a show in the Main Expo Center with about 200 vendors and a smaller show on Kentucky Avenue.  At the same time, The Rotary Club of Paducah sponsors a show with 50 vendors.  Every vacant storefront in Paducah has "pop up shops" with vendors from across the country.  There are additional vendors in the the big mall in town and Eleanor Burns brings in warehouses of fabric for the week.  Every sewing machine manufacturer and fabric company is there, not to mention some of the largest quilt shops in the country.  Hotel reservations must be made a year in advance.

When we lived in California and I wasn't paying much attention to quilting, Judy announced that she and her mother were going to Paducah for the show.  I said, "are you nuts? You're going all the way to Paducah for a quilt show?".  Judy looked me in the eye and said "yes, dear.  We'll be gone a few days.  Take care of yourself and don't drink too much (who me?).

Early in 2011 we were contacted by the AQS vendor chairperson for Paducah.  She said there was a cancellation and would we like to sell there.  We couldn't believe it.  Paducah! The major leagues of quilting! In less than 18 months we had gone from the Guild Show in Hendersonville to being vendors at what is arguably the most prestigious quilt show in the world.   Before we accepted, we had to make sure that we had a place to stay there.  After a good deal of searching, we found a bed and breakfast 20 miles from Paducah with rooms available.  We got back to AQS and signed up for a 200 sq. ft. booth in the main expo center.  We were truly in the big time! 
Judy's mother wanted to come with us.  We figured we could us the additional staffing.  Judy mentioned that  the aisles could get so full it was hard to move.  Plus, the show runs 10 hours a day for 4 days and it can be a real grind.  We also figured it would be a chance to spend some time with our daughter Lea who lived in California at the time.  So we paid for her to fly to Paducah  The 4 of us would work the show.
The week of the show we loaded every piece of fabric we owned, put Judy's mom in the back seat, and full of optimism and some trepidation, we headed for Paducah.  Stay tuned for Part II.