Quilts decorated spaces all along Delaware Avenue on Saturday for the inaugural Airing of the Quilts.

They were hung from the borough hall, the bandstand in the borough park, in store windows and on railings. If there was an available space, chances are it was decorated by a quilt.

Cindy Mengel-Smith, owner of the Quilted Crow and one of the organizers of the event, said the number of attendees were not final, but the first event was a success.

Mengel-Smith said she tried to do an “Airing of the Quilts” a few times over the years, but never really got it off the ground.

Enter Judy Borger, Cheryl Ann Hank, Terri Sheckler and Sharon Gower. A committee was formed and the planning started about 18 months ago.

“We met every week, taking ideas and bouncing them around,” Mengel-Smith said. Borger is a professional planner and began to think about placement.

A quilt show was planned for the high school, with local quilts for sale in the Palmerton Library, with 20% of the sale price going to the library.

“We knew we wanted a display of the quilts, so those decorated the pews of the Living Hope Lighthouse Church across from the park.”

Businesses who displayed the quilts took part in a scavenger hunt. People could get their passport stamped at 10 locations to be entered in a drawing for prizes.

The biggest display was at Hager’s Furniture. What’s more natural than dining room tables and dressers to display runners and sofas and beds for bigger quilts? “Hager’s was a given,” Mengel-Smith said.

Owner Jeff Hager said he never expected the number of people who’d be coming through the store. By 1 p.m. he estimated 300 people had come to see the quilts. “Twenty were in at a time. They’d leave and 20 more would come,” he said.

It wasn’t crowded, but steady. People came from Cleveland, Ohio, New York, New Jersey and surrounding towns. “A lot of people had never been in the store before,” Hager said, and the ones who live close by will likely return to do some shopping for furniture.

“This was a great way to promote the town,” Hager said, happy to show off the stores craftsmanship.

People who were visiting had to eat somewhere and the committee approached all the restaurants in town to give them a heads-up and to see if they wanted to be featured on the map in the program.

Quilter Shelba Scheffner of Kresgeville had a display of her works in the Bethany Wesleyan Church. “I met so many nice people today,” she said, as she discussed techniques and color choices with visitors.

Every year the event will feature the works of a different quilter.

Mengel-Smith said they received few complaints. The ink on the scavenger hunt page of the glossy program smudged, and the bus that took people to various parts of Delaware and up to the high school, was a bit slow, anxious quilters said.

Next year they’ll look at adding another bus.

“People kept saying ‘The town looks so pretty,” Mengel-Smith said. The committee, husbands and other volunteers spent the days before the show getting the quilts out to all the locations.

As the big day drew near, they contacted friends and relatives and asked “Are you doing anything Friday?”

More than 500 quilts were on display.

Throughout the park and town, scheduled performers sang, played instruments or told stories.

Members of the Blue Mountain Fiber Guild demonstrated spinning, weaving and woolmaking.

Terry Borger of Mahoning Township showed people his hand-quilting technique, working on a baby quilt in a hoop.

Members of the Sew What quilt guild served as volunteers at the scavenger hunt station and the library.

This year, the committee wasn’t able to do fundraising, but members have since obtained their 501(c)3 certification and hope to be bigger next year.”

Speaking of next year, a tentative date for 2025 has been set: May 3.

For information, visit theairingofthequilts.com or call the Quilted Crow.