Camp Ewalu’s annual fall festival, quilt auction is this week

STRAWBERRY POINT — Camp Ewalu’s 32nd Annual Fall Festival and Quilt Auction will have a hybrid format, held online through Sunday and in-person on Saturday at the camp’s main site, three miles west of Strawberry Point. All items for sale have been donated from congregations and individuals from across Eastern Iowa, and all proceeds will go toward supporting the ministries of the Lutheran camp.

This year’s event will use a hybrid auction format after a successful online auction last year due to the pandemic. More than one hundred quilts will be available for auction on-site during the camp’s traditional quilt auction on Sept. 18, and participants can bid on an additional 100-plus quilts and items online during the week before and one day after the in-person auction. Bidding for the online auction will be open until 7 p.m. Sunday. The link for the online auction can be found at www.ewalu.org/events.

The live event at Ewalu on Saturday will begin at 8 a.m. with in-person quilt viewing and the opening of the country store, which will have additional quilts and crafts available for purchase. Various odds and ends for quilting projects also will be for sale. Refreshments, snacks, fresh produce and baked goods will be available in the canteen all day.

Also that Saturday morning, a 30-minute devotional service will start at 11 a.m., followed by a lunch and freewill offering. The live quilt auction will begin at 1 p.m.; with more than 100 quilts and quality crafts at the auction. Everyone, bidder or spectator, is welcome to attend. Steve Darrington of Decorah will be the auctioneer.

This year’s live musical entertainment will feature the Great Bluegrass Herons, from New Sharon, playing a mix of bluegrass favorites, originals, and gospel with three- and four-part harmony. Wagon rides will be available throughout the day, so guests and visitors can tour the camp’s main site.