Quilt ShowsScenic Travel

Grand Rivers Quilt Show & Spring Festival

Grand Rivers, Kentucky

Grand River Community Center, inside the Quilt Show, outside were craft vendors

Each April, coinciding with the big AQS quilting show and convention in Paducah, Grand Rivers also hosts its own show at its Community Center. Grand Rivers is a quaint little village that sits between Kentucky and Barkley lakes, at the north end of the National Park/Recreation Area appropriately named Land Between the Lakes. As it is only about 20 miles west of Paducah, its area motels and B&Bs host many quilters attending the Paducah Show. So with all the quilters in town it is a good time to host its own quilt show and spring festival. When we go to the Paducah show we stay in the nearby Canal Park RV park so we are regular spring-time visitors to Grand Rivers.

Here’s a few pictures of quilts I liked at the Grand Rivers Show. One I particularly liked was made from a 100 pound antique flour or feed sack.

Amish Quilt by Ella Bontrager
Detail on Amish Quilt by Ella Bontrager

Here’s another one I liked, made by Joyce Puffenbarger of Symsonia, Kentucky.

Quilt by Joyce Puffenbarger
Mr. Bill's Restaurant, Grand Rivers, KY
Mr. Bill's Restaurant, Patti's 1880s Settlement

The Community Center is in the heart of town. Nearby across the street is the Badgett Playhouse which usually schedules a production to run during the Quilt Show and Festival. Across the street in another direction is Patti’s 1880’s Settlement (see our web page on Patti’s and Grand Rivers here), a very popular regional attraction featuring a restored log cabin village with shops, gardens, ponds, streams, walking paths, a little country church, a mill pond waterwheel, and two fantastic restaurants. Last month we posted a blog on our dinner we had at Patti’s Restaurant. So this trip we decided to try brother Bill’s restaurant, appropriately named Mr. Bill’s Restaurant. We found the menu similar to Patti’s and the wait staff were similarly costumed in 1880s attire. Basically the only difference in the two establishments is the interior design motif. While Patti’s is filled with antique furniture from the era and dining is in several smaller more intimate rooms. Bill raised roses so his restaurant is filled with roses and a floral motif with liberal sprinkling of LCD lights. The dining rooms are larger and more open. But that ends the difference because like Patti’s we found the service and the food outstanding.