The Washington Chamber of Commerce has received a grant that will help towards a patchwork of projects to rejuvenate and promote the county’s barn quilt attraction.

The chamber was awarded a Paint Iowa Beautiful grant given by Diamond Vogel and Keep Iowa Beautiful to purchase paint to restore some of the county’s barn quilts that are in need of some TLC. Chamber Executive Director Michelle Redlinger says this is the first time they’ve applied for the grant program, inspired by a current project from the Washington Middle School’s Talented and Gifted Program to display miniature versions of the real-life barn quilts around Washington this summer, including downtown during the Summer Classic in June.

Redlinger says they are planning to have a barn quilt t-shirt fundraiser, and they hope to use a large shop or barn to restore the quilts in need of a paint job this fall to be reinstalled in the spring. She shares some other plans being stitched together, “We are going to work with some of our other local businesses to do some classes where our community members can make their own barn quilts. So we plan on offering some smaller barn quilts and also some larger ones and so we’ll try to be doing some of these work sessions/art classes where we can offer that to the community. I know I’ve always wanted one for myself and I haven’t had the time so this is going to be a really good push to get one and add to that.”

The chamber is also receiving the middle school students’ help in updating the county’s barn quilt map brochure, and Redlinger encourages anyone who isn’t currently on their map and would like to be added to contact her. Those who wish to help with repainting the quilts and other related projects can find the chamber’s contact information here.