This week’s Upper Cumberland Quilt Festival will have an extra meaning as it will be dedicated to the late former Chairman of the Algood Senior Center Board.
Melinda Bilbrey had served as the Chairman of the Board for 20 years and passed away last Fall after her second battle with cancer. Upper Cumberland Quilt Festival Coordinator John Allen said Bilbrey was a loving lady who loved to pray.
“If I ever needed prayer all I had to do was to call Melinda and she would pray,” Allen said. “She came every year to the Putnam County Fairground and prayed over the fairground for the safety of all who came to the fair and that we would have good weather. She was just a wonderful person.”
Allen said Bilbrey was very important to the Algood and quilting community. Allen said Bilbrey will be honored at each of the locations in Algood where the 35th annual festival takes place this week.
“There will be a special table set up with a poster about Melinda and why she has been important to us along with one of her quilts at each of the tables around the city,” Allen said. “So when you go into any of the different venues you can see Melinda highlighted.”
Allen said this year’s theme for the festival is called Preserving Tradition. Allen said quilting is a big part of the Upper Cumberland’s culture and tradition.
“If you grew up in the Appalachia or the South your grandmother or great-grandmother quilted,” Allen said. “It was one of the ways to use leftover fabric from making clothing. They then used those pieces and sowed them together and made a quilt to use on cold winter nights.”
Allen said he believes the festival in years past has done a good job of keeping the quilting tradition alive by passing the tradition on to the younger generation. Allen said over 500 new quilts will be on display this year along with 22 different classes for competition.
The locations participating in the festival are the Hope Church, Algood United Methodist Church, Algood City Hall, Signature HealthCARE of Putnam County, and the White Plains House. The festival runs Friday and Saturday.
Allen said the festival raises money for the Algood Senior Citizen Center every year.
