photo credit: Michelle Marques
The finished quilts were displayed in Courthouse Square on July 4, 2026.

On July 4^th, a special project was unveiled in Santa Rosa’s Courthouse Square to commemorate the 250^th anniversary of the founding of our country, and to imagine what our democracy could look like in the future.

It’s called the We The People Community Quilt Project. Over 240 panels were created by members of the community and volunteers stitched the pieces together.

Sharon Ban was the volunteer coordinator for the project.

“I've seen the quilt slowly come together over the last couple of months and I've seen photographs of all the quilts, but it wasn't until I saw all of them together,” said Ban. “It's just a very different experience seeing them together.”

Margaret King contributed to the quilt. She was busy taking photos of the different panels and explained her involvement in the project.

“I've been too many of the Indivisible events already and I've been trying to do as much as I can and I'm a quilter,” said King. “So when I heard about this, I was inspired to do it and my husband made a quilt panel as well.”

Pamela Van Halsema is the project lead and says people are having a profound response to seeing the quilts assembled.

“That's the same way I reacted to them when they came to me one by one,” said Van Halsema. “What a remarkable statement each one has to share and putting them all together really has such an impact. They're beautiful, they're powerful, and they're hopeful.”

She says she is hopeful that the project will have life beyond the display in Courthouse Square.

“We want this to be seen over and over again to as many people as possible. Here in the North Bay, but what if we took this to Washington, D.C.?” said Van Halsema.

You can learn more and see all the quilts online at WeThePeopleQuilt.org