LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – In Liberty Township in Wexford County, quilting has somehow been reclassified from a wholesome, small-town tradition into a potential public safety incident. The alleged offense wasn’t vandalism or any kind of crime spree, but a group of mostly older women tying quilts, cutting fabric, and sharing a potluck lunch inside the township hall they’ve used for decades every other Thursday. Yet in an unexpected twist, this sewing circle ended not just with folded fabric, but with a call to Michigan State Police.
From church basement to township showdown.
For more than a century, the Liberty Ladies Aid group has quietly stitched quilts for veterans, fire victims, and newborns at Munson Hospital. Founded in 1889, the quilting group started out in a church and eventually settled into Liberty Township Hall, where they have met for decades under a long-standing agreement. Membership has dwindled over the years, but the mission hasn’t with donated fabric, volunteer labor, and quilts that end up warming people in real need.
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Liability panic from township.
According to a report out of Cadillac News, last year, township officials abruptly dissolved the group’s hall-use agreement in July of 2025 after being advised it could pose “liability” issues. Officials say laws have changed, and the township must charge rent. The proposed fix? $75 per meeting – a pretty steep price for a group that runs on donations and goodwill.
Police called.
What might have remained a quiet dispute over paperwork and policy didn’t stay quiet for long. Tensions boiled over during a recent January township meeting when officials went into closed session to discuss a FOIA request filed by the Liberty Ladies Aid group.
When supporters waited in the foyer instead of outside in the cold, Michigan State Police were called by Township Supervisor Brad Swanson describing it as a trespassing issue. No arrests were made and no threats reported as the ladies had reportedly already cleared the building by then.
Mary Hallett, president of Liberty Ladies Aid told 9 and 10 News, “I’m not trying to cause a problem. We had left right after Amanda Kimbel-Sparks said ‘we’re calling the cops.’ We left. We didn’t fight it against it or anything.” Hallett is accusing the Township Clerk, Kimbel-Sparks, who also serves as the township manager, of wanting to push them out. Hallett said, “She wants us gone. She’s doing everything she can do to make it so that we can’t even afford to be there.”
Turnabout is fair play.
Hallett reports that paperwork to start a recall for Kimbel-Sparks was filed Thursday, January 22. Michigan News Source reached out to Kimbel-Sparks for more information on the dispute and reaction to the recall efforts but she did not return our request for comment.
