More colorful quilt murals are on their way to the historic buildings of west Georgia because of recent grants given out to support the Southern Quilt Trail tourism initiative.

Haralson County Tourism received a $1,100 grant from Georgia Council for the Arts in December and the funds will be spent on three new quilt squares in the county.

Bremen’s City Hall will get one of the squares.

“We’ll start picking out their quilt and get started on that in the next month,” said Haralson Tourism Coordinator Gail Priest.

Haralson Tourism Team members are looking at two prospective sites in Tallapoosa and Waco. The quilt square designs will depend on a building’s background.

“It needs to have a connection with the building,” Priest said.

Haralson County’s two quilts on the trail are displayed on the one-room school house in Buchanan and on the old Ace Hardware building in Bremen.

A third quilt square is ready to hang and is reserved for the Triangle Grocery building in Bremen.

“That was supposed to be have been last spring, but a car ran into the building and they haven’t repaired it yet,” she said.

In all, the Southern Quilt Trail has 17 quilt squares in various locations in Haralson, Carroll and Paulding Counties. Powder Springs has 11 quilt squares displayed on downtown buildings. Additional quilt squares can be found on City Hall and Gold’s Gym in Bowdon, Bell’s Store in Roopville and on Main Street Antiques in Hiram.

Priest said the goal of the Southern Quilt Trail is to bring commerce to these areas.

“The trail will bring people from all areas to each of our communities for a look at history. It is probable that they will spend money, either on hotels, meals or trinkets of the area,” she said.

The regional Southern Quilt Trail will expand as well because the project received a grant from the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Because the grant’s deadline is April 30, Priest said Haralson County will probably not be able to receive any money from that particular grant on such short notice, but there is a possibility if people are interested.

“If we do have more than three applicants for the quilt squares, then we can request funds from the association before the April deadline if they have not been used up by other counties,” she said.

Seven counties have access to GDED grant money and funds are given out on a first-come, first-serve basis.

To participate in the Southern Quilt Trail, a property owner must have a building or barn that has historical significance and is at least 50 years old. Additional criteria can be found on www.southernquilttrail.com. An application and participation information from the Rolling Hills Resource Conservation and Development Council Web site is available at www.rollinghillsrcd.org.

For more information, contact the Southern Quilt Trail headquarters at 770-439-1780.