Encore Performance

The Rug Hookers of the Finger Lakes, New York, were proud to be well represented in the rug show during Sauder Village Rug Hooking Week 2021, especially by rugs celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. Guild member Kathy Peters’s rug of abolitionist and suffragist Sojourner Truth earned the Sauder Award for Best of Show.

Many in our guild attended and enjoyed the rug show yet wondered about the future of the suffrage rugs when they returned home. The rugs featured women’s rights advocates, key places in the suffrage movement, interpretations of original suffrage artwork, and appeals to vote. We weren’t ready to bring them home to hunt for space for yet another rug or tuck them away in our closets. They needed to be seen! For a rug encore, we thought of several places that could host a rug show. One venue stood out: the National Women’s Hall of Fame, in Seneca Falls, New York, a premier tourist destination in the Finger Lakes.