Northampton, Airing of the Quilts

About 25km north on the North West Coastal Highway is the town of Northampton.  We've driven through here a number of times and we've been saving some time to visit their BIG EVENT - The Airing of the Quilts Festival - which is held each year in mid-October.

It's a real community event with about 400 quilts adorning the streets.  Several hundred people were visiting the town and the road signs exhorted motorists (mainly truckies) to "slow down, sit back and enjoy the ride".




As well as the quilts we saw classic cars and trucks which joined in for the street parade.  The street parade had floats from many of the local community groups and sports clubs, a pipe and drums band, World War I commemorative soldiers, ambulance, nurse and doctor.

No celebration would be complete with our the CWA stall , where we had scones and coffee.  There were plenty of market stalls in the parks and also on the footpaths.

As with many towns in the area, there's a church designed by the priest-architect John Hawes.  The convent next door is now used for tourist accommodation.

A great way to spend a sunny Saturday morning.