Scott County, KY has preserved history and culture through quilts. Each year, the quilt guild presents cultural heritage through quilts at the Georgetown and Scott County Museum. Additionally, similar events have been hosted by the Scott County Library. Beyond these events, Scott County Extension Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) volunteers and Scott County Extension Homemakers expressed interest in exploring the skills and heritage of quilting more through educational programming. 

Taking these factors into consideration, the Scott County Extension Agent for FCS coordinated an educational excursion to Pigeon Forge, TN. The highlight of the excursion was “A Mountain Quiltfest” and keynote speaker Jacqueline de Jonge (a world-renowned quilt artist from Holland). 

The objectives of the trip were for Scott County Extension Homemaker members and other participants to gain knowledge, leadership skills, and programming ideas to implement at the county and area levels. For the participants demonstrate knowledge learned from an in-depth session focused on the artistic aspects of quilting. Finally, participants will gain and practice new skills to aid in homemaker, Master Clothing Volunteer, and 4-H programming. 

The trip was 3 days and 2 nights, during this time participants were able to network with other quilters from around the country, learn from educational workshops, and explore new quilting techniques. Participants were also given the opportunity to purchase supplies to practice newly learned skills and present what they had learned with others upon returning to Scott County.

Through verbal formative assessment, it was found that all participants felt that the objectives had been addressed and achieved upon completion of the excursion. One participant said, “this was excellent, we need more activities like this, I learned so much!” Another participant stated, “it was wonderful to be together as a group of talented women and we learned something from each other.”

Furthermore, participants expressed that the t-shirt marketing tool was successful in not only marketing Scott County, but in expanding their ability to network at Quiltfest. Those who attended also indicated that they were extremely impressed with the keynote speaker. They expressed that they had expanded their cultural understanding of quilting by hearing the perspective of someone from Holland and looked forward to hearing about her future projects. 

Follow up survey will be distributed to participants in the coming months to assess the long-term outcomes of this program. The FCS Agent plans on conducting in-depth educational excursions in the future.