The quilt itself was in the making for almost three months, but the heritage it represents stretches over 100 years.
A team of 26 women from around the community recently finished a "Centennial Quilt" to honor the city of White Salmon, which is celebrating its 100th birthday in 2007.
The 96-inch by 110-inch quilt is elegant and beautiful, and was clearly a labor of love. Quilt-makers chose individual designs and fashioned them into 12-inch blocks, then each woman wrote a passage describing what was being depicted and its importance to the community.
Creating the artistic depiction of the community's heritage was the idea of four local women: Joan Ahlers, Pat Paulsen, Etta Hepner, and Linnie Talman.
Ahlers, who teaches landscape art quilting, said the concept was born after one of her classes in the basement of the Gorge Heritage Museum.
"After the class, the four of us got talking, and we said `wouldn't it be great to do a remembrance quilt for the centennial.' It sort of took off from there," Ahlers recalled.
Essentially, the quilt was fashioned to capture historical events and places of the community's first 100 years.
"At first we thought we'd sell tickets and raffle it away, but then we saw it was too gorgeous to give away," Ahlers said. "What if it was given to someone from out of town who took it away, never to be seen again?"
Ahlers, a member of the White Salmon Centennial Committee, said there was a real sense of community that went into the endeavor.
"Those who worked on the quilt were ages nine to 90," Ahlers said. "We had a meeting of all these females to start with, and I was amazed that when everybody spoke up about the block they wanted to do, nobody duplicated an idea. It was interesting to see what their minds lit on as a way to visually describe something historic."
The images depict community events and landmarks, such as City Hall, churches, famous homes, industry and agriculture, scenery, recreational activities, and, of course, salmon.
Ahlers fashioned four of the 30 primary fabric blocks on the quilt, as well as the four corner blocks showing the centennial celebration logo.
Wanita Gordon, who created one of the blocks and then put all the blocks together for the group, said working on the project was a fulfilling experience.
"It was wonderful," Gordon said. "The work people did on their blocks was really amazing. Once we were approached to make a block, we had about a month to complete it."
Gordon's block commemorated the Huckleberry Festival.
"In 1967, I was a princess in the Huck Fest Court," Gordon said.
"We all wanted the quilt to be inclusive," Ahlers pointed out. "We tried to include everything important for the community."
At the top, the quilt is embroidered with the Centennial Committee's slogan: "Honor the Past, Celebrate the Present, Envision the Future"; while at the bottom it reads: "White Salmon Centennial, 1907-2007."
White Salmon resident Lynne Kilgore did the embroidery work.
"This was a wonderful effort that ended up with an elegant quilt," Ahlers said.
Although the quilt is scheduled to eventually be put in a place of honor in the Gorge Heritage Museum, in the immediate future it will hang in the Pioneer Center building in White Salmon.
"The County Commissioners are delighted to have it there. They said we can have any wall in the building to hang it on, but it's going to go behind the reception desk as you come in," Ahlers said. "It's the perfect place. You can see it from two levels."
Gordon pointed out that the quilt holds special meaning for her, and anticipated that many people will also find links to their own past in the colorful scenes.
"There is a picture of City Hall where I was married, and the old hospital where I was born," she said. "It was very rewarding. I hope the community likes it."
A dedication event for the quilt is anticipated for sometime in September.
"It'll be a piece of history," Ahlers said. "We'll try to get all the quilters there."
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