Municipal and rural landscapes around Elkhart County will become more attractive in 2008, as 12 additional quilt garden sites will be featured in an annual Quilt Garden Tour, developed by the Elkhart County Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The pilot program which began this spring, featured two gardens, one at Das Dutchman Essenhaus, Middlebury, and the other at American Countryside Farmers Market, Elkhart. Both gardens drew Goshen-area residents and tourists alike as word spread about the attraction.
The Essenhaus garden was a basic nine-patch pattern created by Gary and Linda Henderson that included more than 6,000 individual plants of five different varieties.
Lance Miller, vice president of operations for Essenhaus, said the garden has drawn a lot of attention to his family’s business, as well as the Middlebury community.
“We have people come to Middlebury just to see the garden, and the inn receives calls from guests who are requesting rooms on the quilt side,” he said.
The concept for public gardens that marries the community heritage of Amish quilts and flower gardening began in 2006 with the Elkhart County Convention & Visitors Bureau. The countywide project was geared to enhance the traditional destination areas in an original and untraditional manner.
“We decided that to fuel our local economy, we needed a unique selling advantage,” explained David Azinger, president of the bureau commission. “And I’m proud to say we have a truly one-of-a-kind selling advantage.”
Azinger said that staying ahead of the tourism industry is a challenge the bureau has executed well.
“This will encourage local residents to revisit familiar places, and I’m looking forward to the excitement and the ‘buzz’ of this project,” Azinger said.
“This is a destination event we will all be proud of,” said Diana Lawson, executive director of the bureau. “We don’t know of another event like this anywhere else in the country. We will have a tremendous success on our hands.”
Lawson said the long-term annual event will run spring through autumn and celebrate the deeply rooted connection to the county’s rural past through art, quilting, gardening and history.
Designed to highlight the distinct and individual aspects of each community, Quilt Garden Tours will produce community involvement and excitement.
A steering committee, consisting of 24 area representatives, has been formed to assist with the development of official Quilt Garden Tour participation guidelines, create an official tour map and create an official logo, brand, signage and information at each site.
Representatives of communities or businesses interested in partcipating in the tour may contact Sonya Harman-Nash, Quilt Garden Tour project manager, by calling (574) 262-8161 or by e-mail at sonya@amishcountry.org.
Participating sites
Quilt gardens
Goshen: The Old Bag Factory
Middlebury: Das Dutchman Essenhaus, Krider Gardens
Nappanee: Ind. 19 gateway, downtown, Amish Acres
Wakarusa: Downtown
Shipshewana: Menno-Hof
Elkhart: American Country-side Farmers Market, River-walk Commons, Linton’s Enchanted Gardens, Thornton Gardens
Quilt Murals
Bristol: Elkhart County Historical Museum
Goshen: The Old Bag Fac-tory
Middlebury: Middlebury Chamber of Commerce, downtown
Nappanee: Redevelopment Commission, four downtown murals
Wakarusa: Alliance Mark-eting, The Wakarusa Dime Store — jumbo jellybean quilt
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