The Network

The Ontario Barn Quilt Trail is a network of quilters, rural organizations, museums, historians, sponsors and many others with a passion for rural Ontario. We are working together to promote and enhance rural creativity, the arts, Ontario heritage and culture.

Our vision is barn quilt trails throughout Ontario that inspire rural communities to appreciate and market their assets. This eye-catching civic folk art is a means of telling our stories and building pride in our community’s culture and creativity.

The Ontario movement was started by some hard working women in Temiskaming in 2009 as part of the International Plowing Match. The vision was pushed forward by community organizers, Denise Corneil and Mary Simpson, who documented their community’s effort on-line using social media. Tourism Middlesex immediately caught the bug and took a leadership role, as did “EON”, the Elgin Oxford Norfolk Association of Museum Curators.

Travellers today are looking for that special discovery – the intimate experience that is theirs alone. A barn quilt trail can be the catalyst for that special relationship between community and visitor – whether they are the locals going for a drive; people from the city enjoying a Staycation; or the Chinese exploring North America. Come join the fun. Put a barn quilt on your barn.