At the numerous “mud sales” held annually in the wet, sloshy spring months to benefit local firehouses, schools, and health clinics, the quilt auction attracts Amish community members and outsiders. Here bidders peruse a long list of of quilts for sale, in a variety of styles. During the heyday of the Amish quilt market in the late 1980s and 1990s, out-of-town quilt entrepreneurs flocked to mud sales to buy quilts at cheaper prices than those offered at retail shops. Local Amish businesswomen often attended to track the prices. With hundreds of quilts sold in a day, auctions sometimes flooded the market with quilts, with entrepreneurs and cottage industry stitchers complaining about the low prices.