A Quilt Show in Tiny Ajo Arizona

Ajo is the quintessential southwestern mining town, with occasional strikes and shutdowns. The 1983 strike that began in July that year crippled the community with acrimony on both sides. Though the mine struggled on with non-union labor, copper prices plummeted and so did Ajo. Mining stopped in 1985. Many retired people bought houses and started a new era in Ajo‘s history. The acquisition of the old Curley School and the plaza by the International Sonoran Desert Alliance has both preserved and altered the flavor of the community, which is home to many churches, fraternal groups, and social and cultural organizations with long and rich histories of their own.

I visited the Ajo Piecemakers' Quilt Show "Quilting in the Sonoran Desert" at the Curley School Auditorium. There were new quilts, a quilt raffle, a Bed-turning presentation of antique and unique quilts, quilting demos, vendors.

The Curley School Auditorium.