BEST IN SHOW: Herb Vandewall (left) and Pat Rushbrook stand in front of their prize winning rug at Town Hall. Vandewall and Rushbrook were on a team of 18 local rug hookers from the Oakville Hooking Guild who were recently recognized for their piece of art at the Ontario Hooking Craft Guild's annual meeting in Midland.

Members of the Oakville Hooking Guild have been recognized for their outstanding skills.

The group recently took home the red ribbon for best in show in the theme award category at the Ontario Hooking Craft Guild's annual meeting in Midland. This year's theme of the meeting was 'Hooked on History'.

The award-winning entry is a six-foot by four-foot rug that was a gift for the Town of Oakville from the guild in celebration of the town's sesquicentennial anniversary. It beat out 12 entries from across the province.

"We were thrilled because there was so much time and effort put into it," said Lynn Munari, who has been a guild member for more than 15 years.

"It was recognition from our peers, which was great."

The rug was a labour of love, with 18 members taking part in the project. Members researched the history of the town, decided what would be put on the rug, designed it and then created it.

It took more than 200 man-hours of hooking to turn the dream of creating a tangible piece of history into a reality.

"The drawing was already on the burlap, so we gave each hooker a week to do their square, which meant some of them were doing five to six hours a day of straight hooking," Munari said.

The project started in September 2006, with the finished product presented to the Town at the New Year's Levee in January 2008.

The rug features a series of vignettes featuring local historical buildings, wildlife, plants and trees, and even the GO train.

"This rug tells the history of Oakville," said Munari.

The piece created quite a commotion at the provincial meeting, with several other hooking guilds requesting to borrow it so they could display it in their community. Munari said it is up to Town officials to decide if the award-winning rug will go on tour.

Currently, Oakville residents can see it at the old atrium at Town Hall, 1225 Trafalgar Rd.

Rug hooking is a craft where rugs are made by pulling loops of yarn or fabric through a stiff woven base like burlap, linen or rug warp. Some historians say the roots of rug hooking date all the way back to the early 19th century.

The Oakville Hooking Guild meets the every third Wednesday of the month from September to June at 7 p.m. at the Sir John Colborne Senior Citizens Recreation Centre, 1565 Old Lakeshore Rd. A one-year membership costs $25.

"We welcome everyone from young to old," Munari said.

For information on the guild, call Lynn Munari at 905-842-5658.