Contributed by Becky Oviatt, MSVFF Co-Chair
Mat-Su Valley 2nd Annual Fiber Festival
July 22-23, 2017 – 10AM
Mat-Su Valley Fiber Festival
Alaska State Fairgrounds Livestock Barn
2075 Glenn Hwy. Palmer
FREE Admission, Class Prices Vary
The Mat-Su Valley Fiber Festival is having its 2nd annual event at the Alaska State Fairgrounds Livestock Barn on July 22nd and 23rd, 2017 from 10am to 5pm.
This is not merely a craft sale. It is a fiber festival with demonstrations and classes. Fiber enthusiasts around the area will be gathered to show each other and you - the public - what it takes to ply our craft.
Have you seen the ladies spinning wool at the fair in the Irwin building? For ten days people walk by, fascinated, asking questions about what they are doing.
At the Mat-Su Fiber Festival, for two entire days, we will be concentrating on the entire process - from raising the various animals, to shearing, processing and spinning, weaving or knitting the wool.
This year, we have added livestock demonstrations, a fiber goat show, a wool sheep show and a rabbit show! We are also accepting select handcraft vendors.
Learn what it takes to raise a fiber animal. Watch and interact with the folks as they clean the wool, spin it and weave or knit it into a scarf or shawl. Talk to the gentleman who creates fiber tools from wood, so we can have beautiful things to work with.
There will be classes on showing animals, judging wool, processing, carding, spinning and knitting or weaving. And to top it off, you can learn how to turn the lovely wool into pretty colors via dying. How about felting the wool into a bowl? Or needle felting 3D sculpture? We will have all kinds of folks with brains to pick about fiber.
Come see us on July 22nd and 23rd at the Alaska State Fairgrounds, in the Livestock Barn. Help us make the Mat-Su Fiber Festival something to talk about, so folks will come from all over the country to see what we do in Alaska.
Admission is free with a small fee for some classes, which you can sign up for on the day of the Fiber Fest.
