Jen Brodal/MDN Jackie Slagle, chairperson for the 2023 Minot Prairie Quilt Festival, left, and Bev Cushing, 2023 featured quilter, are shown with a quilt made by Cushing displayed in the background.

The Minot Prairie Quilt Festival is set for March 16 and will run through March 19 at the Clarion Hotel Convention Center in Minot.

The show kicks off with a first-ever Thursday night opening banquet from 6-9 p.m. On Friday and Saturday, doors open at 9 a.m., with an $8 entry. Lunches, dinners and the opening night banquet are pre-registration events, but classes are offered on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The show is presented by the Minot Prairie Quilt Guild, a group with about 140 members, according to Jackie Slagle, festival chair.

“I will have a booth to display many of my quilts, some hung, and smaller items on tables,” said Bev Cushing, featured quilter at this year’s festival.

Slagle said the featured quilter is “an honor we bestow on someone that is an accomplished quilter, someone that has given a lot of time to the Quilters Guild.” Cushing has been a guild past president and member. She also has served as a past festival chair and a teachers chair in the guild for six years.

“This year we also have over $5,000 worth of baskets to raffle off and one of them is a refurbished, painted red featherweight Singer sewing machine worth over $1,500,” Slagle said.

There will be public voting for the viewer’s choice award during the show.

While quilts judged on display are not for sale, many of the vendors have the quilt kits available for some of the quilts shown at this year’s show, Slagle said.