Show Report: New York Sheep and Wool Festival 2018
Ask a knitter about “Rhinebeck” and you’re likely to hear stories of cider donuts, taking photos with sheep, and standing in massive lines for coveted hand dyed yarn. The New York Sheep & Wool Festival, a.k.a. Rhinebeck or simply Sheep & Wool, invites farmers, makers, families, and friends to the Dutchess County Fairgrounds for a weekend of wooly goodness. Held every October since 1980, Sheep & Wool has become a viral sensation in recent years, becoming the annual can’t-miss event for online influencers, bloggers, and vloggers.
The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival is held the first full weekend after Labor Day. What started out in 1979 as a spring conference for shepherds, becoming the largest conference of its kind by 1992, has now morphed into Wisconsin’s biggest fiber festival, and some say it is the biggest in the Midwest. Andrea Mielke was there and brings us this report.