50 years ago in Expo history: Quilts inspired by fair went on display

Editor’s Note: We’re reaching the end of our Expo ’74 history chronicle, so we have a question for our history column readers: Should we continue to run two items each day – one from 50 years ago and one from 100 years ago? Or should we revert back to chronicling events just from 100 years ago? Send your response in an email titled “History” to news@spokesman.com.

The “Best of the Northwest Quilt Show” began at the YWCA, and the highlight was a collection of five Expo ’74 quilts “shown together for the first time.”

One quilt featured stitches from hundreds of fairgoers, added “as they wandered through” the Northwest Folklife Festival site. Another, called the “signature quilt,” featured the names of fair visitors who each made an entire block for the quilt.

The signature quilt had names from 45 states and 17 foreign countries, and was donated to the Cheney Cowles Memorial Museum (today’s Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture) for its permanent collection.

From 100 years ago: John Van Hees, Veradale poultry farmer, just placed a jaw-dropping order with a hatchery: 10,000 day-old chicks.

This was a clear indication of the sheer size of the Van Hees operation.

“I estimate that by the end of this year I shall have sold approximately 700,000 eggs from the chickens on my 25-acre ranch,” Van Hees said.

He had between 4,000 and 6,000 hens on his ranch, soon to grow to more than 10,000. Most of his eggs were sold locally, but he also shipped some “as far as New York City.”