Inaugural festival promotes driving tour through county
Kevin Spradlin
Cumberland Times-News
— ACCIDENT — Between scoops of Lakeside Creamery ice cream and impromptu toy tractor races among brothers, there was the first Barn Quilt Festival on Sunday at Cove Run Farms in Accident.
And Mike Dennis, for one, was pleasantly surprised at the turnout for the first-year event. A barn quilt is a quilt pattern painted or imprinted on a piece of wood and then displayed on a barn.
“This is a much, much bigger response than I think anybody anticipated,” said the Garrett County resident.
Dennis attended the festival, which promoted agriculture, heritage and the natural beauty of rural Mountain Maryland, to attract customers to his digital art and photography efforts. Dennis has taken photos in different seasons of several barn quilts around Garrett County. At least two more are set to be installed in the near future.
Dennis sells the photographs but also uses a cintique that provides a digital image with the pastel-like feel.
“It’s just a neat idea,” Dennis said of barn quilts. “A lot of these designs are unique to America. It’s part of our heritage.”
Area barn quilts highlighted at the festival include “Variation Star” owned by Bev and Taylor “Mike” Sines, “Ohio Star” owned by Wendell and Ruth Beitzel and “Turkey Tracks” owned by Johnny and Sue Logan.
“Turkey Tracks,” located on Boiling Springs Road in Deer Park, is a simple red, white and blue image that gives the impression of a turkey’s prints.
A “Turkey Tracks” photo taken converted into a pastel impression is one of his favorites, Dennis said. The photo was originally taken early this spring. But he plans to revisit the barn this fall and winter.
“You get something different” with the fall foliage and winter snow, Dennis said. “You get a whole different painting.”
The event was organized by the Barn Quilt Association of Garrett County Inc. Part of the festival was to make visitors aware of a self-guided barn quilt driving tour available around Garrett County. This Barn Quilt Trail is the first such driving tour in Maryland.
The tour can be done in a single afternoon or in segments and takes motorists through or near Grantsville, Bittinger, Accident and McHenry, then south to Deer Park.
The seventh barn quilt to be display is one that takes special care to highlight all four seasons. The quilt is called “Circle of Life in Garrett County.” The barn is owned by Kenney Signs Co., Frostburg, and is located between National Pike and Interstate 68 near Finzel.
Association members on Sunday unveiled the eighth and newest barn quilt, “Garden Maze,” placed on a barn near Cove Run Farm’s popular corn maze.
Karen Reckner, festival co-coordinator, and her fellow Barn Quilt Association officers believe the project can assist the local tourism effort and help preserve the area’s agricultural and cultural history.
For more information, log on to http://www.garrettbarnquilts.org/ or call 877-577-2276.
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