By JANE HOUIN
Ohio Correspondent WOOSTER, Ohio — It may be in its 13th year, but superstitions aside, the Great Lakes Fiber Show is an event sheep lovers won’t want to miss.
Each year at the Wayne County Fairgrounds in Wooster, this May 24-25 event will feature more than 70 vendors in a trade show, national and regional breed shows, sales of high-quality rams and ewes, workshops, demonstrations, kids’ activities and more.
The show will encompass three commercial buildings at the fairgrounds and the 4-H building - with some additional vendors as well as alpaca and sheep displays being located outdoors.
In addition to the fiber show, the event also features the National Tunis Sheep Show and Sale, with 85 Tunis sheep listed in the sale catalog, which is available at www.bannersheepmagazine.com
There are 250 total head consigned to the sale, which is an increase of more than 10 percent compared to 2007.
“The National Tunis Sale is the featured part of the Great Lakes Sale,” said Greg Deakin, of Banner Sale Management. “Tunis are very farmer-friendly and are growing rapidly in popularity. They really convert forage to red meat efficiently.”
The sale will also feature a number of Columbias, Rambouillets, Natural Coloreds, Finnsheep, Cheviots, Dorsets, Montadales, Southdowns, Shropshires, Oxfords, Hampshires, Suffolks and crossbred or unregistered wether sires and dams.
“One additional feature this year is the addition of Boer Goats to the Great Lakes Sale,” Deakin said. “We have some very nice quality goats coming in.”
Last year, Tunis rams and ram lambs in the sale averaged sale prices of $300-$469 each with ewes and ewe lambs averaging $303-$506.
Across breeds and sexes, the average sale price for the 153 sheep in the 2007 sale was $317. Vendors will be on hand to offer a multitude of items - from raw fiber to finished items and everything in between.
Vendors will sell raw and processed fiber from sheep, alpacas, llamas, angora goats, angora rabbits and even buffalos. Fiber processors will be there to take fiber to be made into batts for comforts, roving for spinning, and yarn for knitting, crocheting, weaving and other projects.
Some vendors will have equipment for using the fiber and others will have finished items. One vendor will have watercolor paintings and prints of sheep.
“I must say, the vendors are excellent,” said Linda Reichert of the Great Lakes Fiber Show. “Many have been coming for at least 10 years, and some have been there since the beginning.”
Activities will take place from 10 am until 5 pm on Saturday and 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Sunday.
In addition to the shows, sale and, fiber market, visitors can also participate in Just for Fun activities and workshops.
While the Just for Fun activities were designed with children in mind, adults are welcome to participate in these events as well. These activities will take place in the Industrial Building and are most are free of charge throughout the day.
On Saturday morning, Just for Fun activities include making a drop spindle and spindle spinning, with activities on making a small frame loom, frame loom weaving and making tassels and cords in the afternoon.
Sunday’s activities include making a felted teddy bear hat and felting on soap in the morning followed by repeated activities of making a drop spindle, spindle spinning and making tassels and cords in the afternoon.
In addition to those fun children’s activities, other events on Saturday include the skein competition, the fleece sale and judging, as well as an Angora Goat Show in the morning. The sheep show begins at 1 p.m.
Following the adult Angora goat show on Saturday morning, 4-H workshops will take place, including a 1 p.m. workshop on nutrition and animal health and a 3:15 p.m. workshop on genetics. Another workshop on showmanship will take place Sunday morning at 10 a.m. followed by a 1 p.m. 4-H showmanship goat show.
Sunday’s events will include the used sheep equipment auction getting underway at 11 a.m. and the sheep sale starting at 1 p.m.
The skein competition will include nine classes: fine singles, medium singles, bulky singles, fine piled, medium piled, bulky piled, spinner’s choice of fiber and ply, novice spinner two-ply yarn and novelty years. Entries are limited to two skeins per category and must have been spun since May 31, 2007.
The fleece competition will have two divisions (white fleeces in Division I and natural colored fleeces in Division II). Each division will have four classes: fine, medium, coarse and double-coated with three places given in each class. All fleeces must be from the current 2008 wools crop and be owned by the exhibitor.
The weekend’s workshops have a registration fee and must be registered for in advance.
They cover a variety of fiber topics and skill levels, include an introduction to weavings on a floor loom, sock-knitting techniques, three fancy mohair years, basic spinning, basic crochet, reading charted knitting patterns, cookie cutter needle felting, painted skeins, spinning and knitting a loopy scarf, wet felted flowers and making a 3-dimensional teddy bear.
For more information on the Great Lakes Fiber Show as well as a full schedule of events, workshop registration form and list of trade show vendors, visit www.lovellservices.com/GLFS |
