he Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival (MDSW) took place on 3-4 May. By my understanding, this is the second largest fiber festival in the United States; the New York Sheep and Wool Festival at Rhinebeck, NY in October is the largest. I thought others might be interested in knowing what goes into preparing, participating, and recovering from a show. Because of the time involved and the fact that I need to take care of my animals each morning and evening, I only engage in local shows: MDSW in May, the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival in September, the Frederick Fiber Festival in October, and the Maryland Alpaca and Fleece Festival in November. There are lots of considerations regarding a show, the main things being what to bring, how to display products, and how best to engage people at the show. Before I dive into all of this, let me note that the best thing about a show is the many people I am able to interact with, both people I have not met before as well as returning customers/friends I get to see again.

What to bring? At MDSW you have a 12x12 booth. (The other shows have a 10x10 booth.) 12x12 is 144 sq feet. The main floor of the Withers Wool shop is 3000 sq feet - so clearly only a small fraction of the total goods can be brought to a show. (The numbers are a little misleading as the shop has copious inventory, e.g. the bags of roving, space for classes and workshops, a kitchen and restroom, and resources to make things, e.g. several spinning wheels and a felt loom.) My considerations on what to take involve emphasis on what Withers Wool excels at, the nature of the show, what customers are looking for, and what would entice people who have not yet physically visited Withers Wool to come see the shop and farm. .

What does Withers Wool excel at? (And hopefully this is not a surprise to readers.) Primarily the excellent soft and lucious fiber from the Angora Goats and Merino Sheep raised on the farm that is then transformed into roving and batts, mill spun yarn and a variety of hand spun yarn. The booth focuses on those three items and also displays a few finished goods that show how the yarn can be used. This juxtaposes nicely with the focus of most people at the show, which is to obtain yarn and fiber (and auxillary items) for which they can make their own products (e.g. by knitting, crocheting, weaving and felting.) By percentage of space in the booth, the largest amount of inventory are the hand spun yarns, given the unique nature of that item. (i.e. few booths carry hand spun yarns and to the best of my knowledge, none have even close to the inventory that Withers Wool does.) Second is the roving and mohair locks that feature our skin-soft merino and mohair combinations. Third is the mill spun yarn. I bring an assortment of dyed and undyed yarns as well as a variety of the unique blends we carry - e.g. a merino, mohair, sari-silk, angelina blended yarn.

The show is an excellent chance to invite people to visit the farm to see the larger shop, take a class/workshop and get a tour to see the farm animals.. I take the opportunity when talking to people to note that what they see in the booth is only a small sample of what is at the farm shop and point out some of the classes and workshops they can take at the farm. To that end, I reserve some space in the booth to display the shawls that can be made at the “felt loom workshop” and an example picture that can be made at the “painting with wool workshop.” Any upcoming scheduled topical classes are also noted; in this case the 3D needle felting classes, a beginning spinning class and the cyanotype class (still time to sign up for the cyanotype class which takes place on 31 May).

I do try to think about how the items are displayed in the booth. There is a tension between bringing as much product as you can versus providing space to move around and artfully display goods. There are lots of theories on how to do this. I do the best I can and am constantly trying to look at the booth with open eyes and think how it could possibly be better arranged. (Readers who have seen the booth are invited to pass any comments on to me.)

Regarding time to prepare, I first take an hour or two about a week before the show to diagram out the booth layout, looking at prior diagrams and thinking what might be changed. Then there is about two hours to assemble and pack up the items at the shop, an hour to load the van, and about 4 hours to unpack at the show and set up. All these shows have set up on Friday and the show starting on Saturday. I spend a little time Saturday morning tidying up the booth and rearranging as needed. After the show, it takes about two hours to pack back up and load the van. Then about 3 hours to unpack and set the items back up in the shop. So you can see there is a bunch of time involved. However, all worth it to be involved with people at the show and display the great products that come from the sheep and goats on the farm.

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

Being Green

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