Sheep Industry News June 2023

Festival Celebrates 50 Years of Fiber in Maryland

HEATHER PEARCE ASI Wool Production Programs Manager S aturday morning at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival felt like a rock concert. It was abuzz with excitement and anticipation with fiber enthusiasts itching to get their hands on the best fleeces and yarn. Conducted May 5-7 at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Md., there were three lines of people – each stretching for almost a quarter of a mile – waiting at the gates. Once they opened, fes tival goers quickly made their way through the ticket lines and flooded the grounds in search of everything from fleeces to sheep to equipment to food.

tical issues, it sparked the idea of a market to sell fleeces. Thus started the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in 1973, founded by MSBA and directed by Festival Chair Janet Sorrels. The festival has always focused on creating a place where producers can sell their wool and where fiber artists can come to buy that wool. The festival really opened up the market beyond selling commercially. The economic impact has been huge when you think about the number of visitors and the amount of food, fiber, sheep and sheep supplies sold during the festival. The number of sheep in Maryland has remained fairly constant, but the wool pool has ceased in recent years as so many producers have moved to raising high-quality wool (or hair sheep). The festival continues to be the flagship event for MSBA and is put on by a dedicated committee led by Chairman Gwen Handler, General Manager Kris Thorne, MSBA President Jeff White and 65 volunteers. With humble beginnings working to connect producers and buyers, the festival is now among the biggest sheep festivals in the United States. FLEECE SHOW & SALE No matter when you walk into the Fleece Barn, the place is buzz ing with excitement. Here’s how it works. Friday is fleece check-in and judging day. The place is filled with clean, lustrous fleeces as producers and volunteers checking them in. Lee Langstaff runs it like a well-oiled machine, handling the 860 fleeces entered in the show and sale. Fleeces must be for sale – honoring the original intent of the festival – but producers can choose if they will be judged. Also keeping to tradition, only sheep fleeces are accepted. Nearly 500 fleeces were judged by Letty Kline, Geof Ruppert, Dr. Shawn Ramsey and Zane Bone. Most were in breed classes while 200 competed in the white fleece and natural colored fleece divisions – which can include crossbreds. There are even divisions for uncoated – although still fairly clean – fleeces and down breeds. “We are eager to draw in more of our meat sheep breeders, who have

It would be easy to attribute the excitement to the fact that 2023 marked the show’s 50th anniversary. But it wouldn’t be entirely ac curate, either. Regulars will tell you that it’s like this almost every year. With green grass and trees in full bloom, the fairgrounds welcomed huge crowds and provided warm, sunny weather in recognition of the golden anniversary. Special events to mark the occasion included a 50th anniversary museum that offered a look back at all of the past festivals. An opening ceremony took time to recognize many of the people who worked tire lessly to create the festival in the early years. They included Dahl Den ning, Charlote Dinsmore, Bob Dinsmore, David Greene, Dally Irvine, Nancy Greene and Ann Ruppert. FESTIVAL BEGINNINGS The Maryland Sheep Breeders Association has had a wool pool to gather and sell members’ wool for a long time. During one such wool pool, handspinners came to skim off a few of the top-quality fleeces before the rest were bagged and shipped. While this created some logis

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