FREEPORT, Armstrong County — Freeport is part of the fabric of Suellen Todd Walters’ life and explains why this weekend she’ll bring 38 quilts for a show during Freeport’s Fabulous Fall Fudge Festival Saturday and Sunday.

The Todd family has many ties to the Freeport area.

“Freeport was called Todd’s Island to begin with, and then it was Todd’s Town before it was Freeport,” said Walters.

In a sense, she’s bringing many of the quilts home. Walters graduated from Freeport High School and now lives in Warren, Ohio.

“The first one belonged to my dad’s mother, and it was made for her dad when he was married. It was made in 1857. It’s 159 years old,” Walters said.

“Some quilts were made by my mother’s mother,” Walters said. That grandmother, Jesse Keener, lived in Slate Lick in South Buffalo Township, Armstrong County, where Walters also grew up.

The show honors her mother, Dorothy “Ruth” Keener Todd.

“Generations of Quilting: A Todd Family Tradition,” will include quilts from six generations. Some are quilts Walters, her mother and her daughter made; one has a quilt top her sister made; and others are family quilts gathered from her sisters and nieces.

Walters specializes in hand-appliqued and hand-quilted quilts, and her own prizewinning quilts will be on display.

But, the sweetest part of the festival is the fudge made by Freeport Renaissance Committee members. Last year they sold 100 pounds.

“We use our own recipes or recipes that we find on the Internet,” said Sue Hunter, co-chairman of the festival and a member of the committee.

Proceeds support the committee’s projects including a new one on Fifth Street in the center of town.

The committee bought a small parcel of vacant land and turned it into an area where people using the Butler Freeport Community Trail can safely park bicycles and picnic in town.

The bicycle garden will be dedicated at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Hunter said.

Less than a block away, the Freeport Public Library, 428 Market St., will host a flea market from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.

“They have a lot of Christmas decorations out,” said Michelle Hutchison, assistant librarian.

Thousands of used books, CDs and DVDs also will be on sale.

Michael and January (Haven) Furer and their two children will share some of Freeport’s nautical history Saturday when they welcome visitors to their home at 317 Fourth St. The house was built by Captain Hudson, who navigated the Allegheny River.

“He had a riverboat named Florence Belle,” Michael Furer said.

“It looks like a small paddleboat that would take people up and down the river,” he said. “(The house) was built to look like a riverboat.”

The large house has three stories of living area, a front porch and a second-story porch. Formerly, it also had a third-floor porch.

“It was modeled like that to have a widow’s walk,” Furer said.

“Florence Belle was his daughter,” Furer said. “He wanted the house finished so that his daughter could get married in the foyer. There is a big stained-glass window in the foyer with a sailing ship.”

Furer said the house has a lot of woodwork including fireplaces with lions’ heads and quartersawn tiger-striped oak.

Many people have lived in the house over the years, especially after it became three two-bedroom apartments.

In the 1980s, previous owners Fran and Theresa Calligan turned it back into a single-family home.

The Furers bought the house in 2012 after living in two 19th-century houses in Freeport.

“We have a penchant for buying old homes and living in old homes,” Furer said.

The couple has refurbished the inside and refreshed the outside.

“It would look like your grandmother’s house,” Furer said. “We want it to be comfortable and modern but we try as much as we can to preserve the look of the house.”

The town’s merchants will host Business Bingo on Saturday.

Heidi Powell, owner of RE/MAX Dynamic, Realtors at 235 Fifth St., said festival visitors can pick up bingo cards at participating businesses.

They can have their cards signed at other businesses. When they turn in cards at the end, they will be eligible to win gift baskets at a drawing at 3 p.m. Saturday at The Canvas, 237 Fifth St.

“I love these festivals,” Powell said. “We get to start a conversation and someday that could turn into a customer.”

Powell said Freeport is a safe and welcoming community.

“It has wonderful architecture, a riverfront park, the bicycle trail, places you can get a cup of soup,” Powell said. “We have really seen a sense of community here that other towns don’t have.”