The Paducah Diaries - We Know You're Jealous
For all of us quilters there are a couple of quilt shows we all want to attend at some point. The AQS Quilt Week show in Paducah Kentucky is definitely one of those shows.
Each spring tens of thousands of quilters descend on a little town on the border of Kentucky and Illinois. The 26,834 people in Paducah brace themselves for the swath of quilters. This year was the 40th Anniversary of this show located in the same small town where you will find the National Quilting Museum.
We have had the privilege of attending this show for the past 6 years and we wanted to take you along with us this year. Follow along our diary of Paducah.
Day 1 - Monday April 22
This is the day we leave and fly from Salt Lake City to St Louis, Mo. Our flight leaves at 9:30PM and lands around 1:00 AM on the 23rd. Yes this sounds strange, but it makes sense to us.
Day 2 - Tuesday April 23
This is the day we wake up and drive the 3 hours from St Louis to Paducah, through southern Illinois. This is also the day we pick up our product from the Freight Terminal and set up our booth.
The quilt show in Paducah is spread over many locations. There is the main convention center and the Pavilion. We are always in the Pavilion, we call it the Bubble.
There are tons of vendors and lots of quilts on display in the Bubble. More about the Bubble later.
There are school kids there to help us unload our trucks and bring boxes to the booth. They are the best!
After setting up our booth and visiting all of our other Vendor Friends, we went to one of our favorite dinner spots. We always try to find local places to eat when we are on the road and this place...yummy!
If you are ever in Paducah, KY make sure you go to Flamingo Row!
Day 3 - Wednesday April 24
First day of shopping, well selling for us. This day was crazy! So busy all day we didn't even get a chance to use the electric port-o-potties behind the Bubble. Yes, you read that right. We won't go into too much detail about this, we will just say they are definitely better than regular port-o-potties!
We were able to join some friends for dinner after the show at another one of our favorite Paducah restaurants. We always try to have one fancy dinner at a show and Cynthia's in Paducah is our go to for this. Check them out if you are ever there!
We walked around the cute Downtown area also after the high of a super busy day!
We checked out some of the local shops as well. Paducah sure loves the Quilters!
Day 4 - Thursday April 25
This day was our busiest day of the show. We utterly failed at getting photos today. We again didn't get a chance to leave the booth, but we loved meeting and talking with all the Quilters.
We have somewhat of a tradition at the shows. On Thursday nights we get together with some other vendors and find a local spot to sing some karaoke. We are not amazing at it, but we have a BLAST! We got to hang out with Jo & Brian from Martelli Enterprises and Chuck from Legit Kits plus some other awesome new friends.
Day 5 - Friday April 26
We were very busy again today however got to get out of the booth a little bit. We wanted to show you what you will find if you enter the Bubble. Check this out.
Lots of shopping and lectures throughout the day from the best of the best in the Quilting World.
After the show we got to go to another favorite spot for dinner. We were too tired to remember to take food photos, but if you are in Paducah, be sure to eat at Rafferty's.
The rolls are something to behold here. They are crossiants with something sweet on them, not sure what it is but it is awesome. Their homemade salad dressings are amazing. I'm partial to the Ranch, but you have to try the Hot Bacon Mustard dressing also!
Day 6 - Saturday April 27
Last day of the show is always a little slower than the rest. It gave us some time to walk over to the other building where there are more Vendors as well as more quilts to see.
There are so many awesome quilts we could never post all the images. We wanted to share a few of our favorites. You have to see these up close. Such amazing work.
After the show we tear down the booth, help some friends and say our goodbyes. Then we head back to St Louis to sleep a few hours before we hop on a flight home. We did stop by Flamingo Row again for some Jumble Rice To Go, which we ate on our way to St Louis.
If you ever get a chance to go to Paducah, KY you have to visit a couple of other places. Because we work at the show all day, these places are always closed and we haven't been inside yet...one day.
Visit the National Quilt Museum and Hancock's of Paducah!
Day 7 - Sunday April 28
