CARRICK, North Dakota — The Carrick County Fair Board is holding three handmade quilts and delaying the remaining prize distribution after the same quilts appeared in raffle winners' homes before the winning tickets were drawn. The fair closed Sunday as scheduled. Food, livestock and youth-project awards are not affected.
The quilts were donated by the Carrick Needle Circle for a drawing that supports maintenance of the fairgrounds kitchen. Each had a distinct pattern and was displayed behind the raffle table through Sunday afternoon. Volunteers sold 1,842 tickets and placed the stubs in a rotating wire drum kept beside the stage.
Board secretary Donna Pell drew the first quilt winner at 5 p.m. Sunday. Winner Renee Markham was present and told volunteers she had already received the red-and-cream star quilt Saturday morning. She said it was folded on the guest bed when she returned from grocery shopping, although no one else had entered her locked house.
Pell believed Markham was referring to another quilt until volunteers compared a photograph on her phone with the prize still hanging behind them. Both showed the same arrangement of eight-pointed stars and a small repair near one corner. The original remained pinned to the display with its donor card attached.
The next two drawings produced similar accounts. Robert Kline said a blue strip quilt had appeared in his dryer Sunday morning. Leanne Otis found a green patchwork quilt draped over her porch swing before leaving for the fair. Neither had yet checked the posted results or spoken with Markham. All three held tickets matching the numbers drawn.
Fair volunteers paused the raffle, photographed the display and sealed the ticket drum. They later completed drawings for six smaller prizes after no one reported an early delivery. The quilt winners were asked to leave the displayed pieces in the fair office while board members determined whether the items at their homes belonged to the donors.
Needle Circle coordinator Agnes Rowe visited each home Monday with Pell. She identified the stitching habits of the members who made the quilts, including a doubled backstitch she uses to close binding. The household quilts also contained the small imperfections documented on the displayed originals. Rowe said they were not copies the group had knowingly produced.
The homes showed no forced entry, and nothing else was reported missing or moved. Markham's doorbell camera records her leaving and returning Saturday but does not show a delivery. Kline's dryer had been empty after his family finished laundry Friday night. Otis said the porch quilt was dry despite rain before dawn.
The fair board is considering whether to refund all quilt-ticket purchases or treat the household pieces as delivered prizes. Pell said the fundraiser brought in about $3,600 and the money has not been spent. The Needle Circle asked that no quilt be sold, cut apart or displayed as an attraction while ownership is unresolved.
Rowe compared the batting, thread and fabric from visible edges without opening any seams. The materials appear ordinary and consistent across each pair. The household quilts are slightly warmer than room temperature when unfolded, she said, but cool normally on a table. The fair-office quilts have remained at the building under two-person access.
Markham has continued using the quilt on her guest bed with the board's permission. On Tuesday she noticed one red strip cut from the same faded cotton as a work shirt her husband keeps in an upstairs closet. The shirt is intact, including a repaired cuff and missing pocket. Rowe said she remembers adding the strip but cannot remember being given the fabric.