By Mike Sever

Record-Courier staff writer

A centerpiece of this year's Portage County-Randolph Fair will be a commemorative quilt that encompasses the skill of quilters from all around the county.

The final product is nearly six feet wide by eight feet long and represents the townships of the county surrounding a central square honoring the fair.

The idea for the quilt, according to Fair Board Secretary Sis Sayre, actually started with Fair Board President Charles Breiding, who saw a similar one at the Stark County fairgrounds.

Letters and cloth squares were sent to the fiscal officers of all the original townships in Portage, asking them to supply a finished square for a quilt to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Randolph Fair.

"They're all real nice. They put a lot into it," Gerrie Huth said of the finished squares. Huth is one of two quilters who volunteered to oversee the project.

She and Denise Horning put the front panels together and Eva Birch did the machine quilting, putting the front, batting and back together.

The center square is a design by Huth and Horning.

It's got a circus tent, a merry-go-round, a tractor pull, a barrel racer, animals and more, topped by an American flag and eagle, flanked by fireworks. It is surrounded by a ring with the founding and anniversary years of the fair.

"We wanted everything to do with the fair," Huth said.

It also has a Best of Show ribbon, a fair pin and this year's bicentennial ribbon included as part of the design.

"I wanted it like this was an entry. I wanted people to know everyone contributed their block and it won best of show," Huth said.

On the back of the quilt is a label that identifies the quilt, its makers and the date.

"We put all the names on the blocks and had the quilters sign their names beside it," Huth said.

"So everybody's name is on it. So many quilts don't have any names on it."

Most of the townships that make up Portage county are represented in the quilt. A few didn't respond to the fair board's invitation. The quilt also includes a map of Portage County and a poem about the Randolph Fair that was written for the fair's centennial 50 years ago.

Huth said she and Horning worked from February until just a few weeks ago to finish the quilt.

"I don't think they expected it that big. The more we did, the more we wanted in. It was very exciting," she said.

The quilt was unveiled this week at a meeting of the fair committee.

"It's beautiful," Sayre said the finished product.

Virginia Hamilton said she would like to see the quilt as a traveling display around the county after the fair, at places like Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna and libraries.

Huth said the idea that she was working on something that will be shown for decades and be viewed by thousands of people, didn't hit her until after the unveiling.

"I guess I didn't realize that until I came home. I just did it for Virginia because she's an old friend. It just kept blossoming and blossoming."