Gore Place Sheepshearing Festival / Waltham, MA
April 27, 2024: Since 1987, this annual event has entertained guests with music, 100+ craft and fiber artists, demonstrations of traditional shearing and herding dogs, and historic re-enactors on the beautiful grounds of this historic, 50-acre estate. According to Executive Director and festival organizer Susan Robertson, “We’re proud that the Sheepshearing Festival has become a New England spring tradition for so many. People often tell us that spring doesn’t begin until the Sheepshearing Festival!” learn more
The Chancellor’s Sheep and Wool Showcase / Germantown, NY
April 27, 2024: This family-friendly event, one of the historic site’s oldest and most popular annual festivals, has become a springtime tradition for many in the area. With sheering demonstrations, farm animals, and historic reenactments, there’s something for everyone! The Showcase is a great place for children, with crafts, storytelling, and the chance to meet their first sheep! learn more
Connecticut Sheep, Wool, and Fiber Festival / North Haven, CT
April 27 2024: The Connecticut Sheep, Wool & Fiber Festival celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2009 and we are growing. The festival started in 1909 by the CT Sheep Breeders Association as a program “to promote the keeping of sheep in Connecticut” by visiting farms and eventually to a one day event held at UCONN. It has evolved and expanded into a premier sheep and fiber festival. This event is family friendly agricultural and learning experience for the general public as well as shepherds and fiber enthusiasts. learn more
Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival / West Friendship, MD
May 4-5, 2024: The Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is one of the largest festivals of its kind celebrating all things sheep, from hoof to handwoven. learn more
New Hampshire Sheep & Wool Festival / Deerfield, NH
May 11-12, 2024: The New Hampshire Sheep and Wool Growers Association (NHSWGA) is a non-profit agricultural organization with a mission to teach sheep management skills, educate the public, and provide a forum for shepherds to meet and exchange ideas. learn more
Massachusetts Sheep & Woolcraft Fair / Cummington, MA
May 25-26, 2024: The Massachusetts Sheep and Woolcraft Fair began in 1974 with an idea presented at a potluck dinner at the home of Henry and Virginia Easterbrooks. The fair began as a spin off of a youth sheep judging contest. The main purpose was to have a statewide sheep show. The fair has been held at the Cummington Fairgrounds every year except one. As the fair grew areas associated with sheep were added; dog trials, vendors, sheep and fleece auctions, leadline and other fiber animals. As time has gone by, the lamb bits have become a signature food item, parking lots are full on both days, the fiber workshops are full of variety and people and the fair is still run largely on a volunteer basis. learn more
Maine Fiber Frolic / Windsor, ME
June 1-2, 2024: Celebrating fiber, fiber animals, and fiber arts. learn more
Maine Central New York Fiber Arts Festival / Boukville, NY
June 8-9, 2024: CNY Fiber Artists & Producers will hold its 13th annual and best-ever festival on June 8th and 9th in 2024. We expect a full complement of 120 booths filled with fleeces, yarns, fiber equipment, fiber animals, and all manner of finished fiber products. We will have a full schedule of exciting presentations and workshops, our weaving competition, fleece sale, shearing demonstration, weaving booth, and children’s activities. learn more
Ontario Handspinning Seminar / Burlington, Ontario
June 2-4, 2024: Blending it all together: According to the dictionary, blending is the action of mixing or combining things together. In fibre arts, this means a lot more than blending fibres or colours, although that is certainly one part of blending. We also blend techniques and disciplines. Blending fibres for felting, spinning yarn for weaving, weaving stories and fibre arts together to create new tales to be told. Communities are blended together through fibre arts, with people teaching others across the world. We blend so many aspects of our lives and fibre arts in all we do. This year at the Seminar we will explore some of the many ways to blend it all together. The Organizing Committee is hard at work planning an IN-PERSON Seminar. We will blend vendors and spin-ins and competitions and workshops and a banquet and a fashion show! learn more
Central New York Fiber Arts Festival / Bouckville, NY
June 8-9, 2024: CNY Fiber Artists & Producers will hold its 13th annual and best-ever festival on June 8th and 9th in 2024. We expect a full complement of 120 booths filled with fleeces, yarns, fiber equipment, fiber animals, and all manner of finished fiber products. We will have a full schedule of exciting lectures and workshops, our weaving competition, fleece sale, shearing demonstration, weaving booth, and children’s activities. learn more
Fiber Revival / Newbury, MA
August 10, 2024: Come and enjoy a day-long exploration of the fiber arts. Shop the vendors, learn a new skill, bring your knitting, your spinning wheel or your sock machine and enjoy a day of community with your fellow fiber enthusiasts. This is a BYOC (bring your own chair) event, so please remember to bring portable seating of your choice. There will be many vendors selling spinning and weaving equipment, spinning fiber in all forms. learn more
Pennsylvania Endless Mountains Fiber Festival / New Milford, PA
September 7-8, 2024: The Endless Mountains Fiber Festival began in September of 2003 in conjunction with the Penn State Extension. It is the largest and longest-running fiber festival in Pennsylvania. The Festival is held on the Harford Fairgrounds, located in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, in the heart of the Endless Mountains. learn more
Adirondack Wool and Arts Festival / Greenwich, NY
September 21-22, 2024: Each year over 3,000 visitors attend the Adirondack Wool and Arts Festival located in Greenwich, New York. This two-day event is presented by the Washington County Fair Inc.and held at the fairgrounds, located just north of Albany, New York State’s capital. It is convenient to the area’s popular tourist destinations: Saratoga Springs and Lake George in New York, and Manchester in Vermont. learn more
Common Ground Fair / Unity, ME
September 21-22, 2024: While this event in not all about fiber, we do have a wonderful Fleece tent and judged show, plus lots of talks and education about various fiber arts. There are also many fiber and yarn vendors located near the Fleece tent as well as Maine Fiber Vendors tent, with vendors who source their own fiber for roving, wool, yarn, and felt. It is a very busy event but so much fun. learn more
Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival / Tunbridge, VT
October 5-6, 2024: The mission of the Vermont Sheep & Wool Festival is to produce an annual event showcasing natural fibers and the fiber arts while educating and entertaining the public and providing a venue for small farms and fiber producers to promote their businesses. learn more
New York State Sheep & Wool Festival / Rhinebeck, NY
October 19-20, 2024: The Northeast’s thriving sheep industry is showcased and celebrated each year in this famous festival that draws a multitude of visitors from across the country to the lovely village of Rhinebeck. Vendors can be found throughout the property, selling fiber and finished crafts. Your day will include fiber artists and crafts galore, workshops, frisbee dogs, and a petting zoo.
Visit Merritt Books to enjoy their Tales of the Yarn events and book sale all weekend. The Fleece Sale, Breed Barn, Camelids & Cashmeres Barn, Equipment Auction, Leaping Llamas, and Fiber Competitions will offer visitors the chance to get up close and personal with the people and animals that make this event so special. learn more
Fiber Festival of New England / West Springfield, MA
November 2-3, 2024: Fiber enthusiasts are coming together at the Mallary Complex on the Eastern States Exposition fairgrounds for the annual Fiber Festival of New England to promote the use of wool and other natural fibers and related products to the general public! learn more
MidAtlantic Fiber Association (MAFA) / Millersville, PA
June 26-29, 2025: Biennial Conference With dozens of in-person workshops in weaving, spinning, dyeing, felting, basketmaking, and other fiber arts, MAFA 2025 is sure to be a fun and inspiring experience! Shop the vendor marketplace, peruse the fashion, fiber art, and hat exhibits, take part in the towel exchange, enjoy yoga in the afternoon, and make new friends. Daytrippers join us for shopping, and weekend classes on Friday and Saturday, and spend a night at MAFA. Virtual attendees, join us for livestreams of conference events, and virtual classes. There’s a lot to look forward to!
The MAFA 2025 conference will again be held at Millersville University, Millersville, PA. The campus is located between Harrisburg and Lancaster, in south-central Pennsylvania’s historic Lancaster County. learn more
New England Weavers’ Seminar / Westfield, MA
July 8-13, 2025: Biennial Conference Although the location has changed again, the Programs, Exhibits and Participants are certain to provide a stimulating seminar. Start planning your entry for Fashion and Gallery! Collaborate with other guild members to provide support in developing entries and to encourage participation. learn more
Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference (EGLFC) / Chautauqua, NY
October 2025: Biennial Conference The first Eastern Great Lakes Fiber Conference (EGLFC) was held on September 29 and 30th, 1979 at the State University of New York in Fredonia, NY. It was hosted by the Chautauqua County Weavers Guild, the Weavers Guild of Buffalo and the Weavers Guild of Rochester, “conceived as a means for providing more and better communication among the fiber craftspeople in Western New York, Northwestern Pennsylvania and Southern Ontario.” Acclaimed fiber artist and sculptor, Walter Nottingham (1930-2014) was the keynote speaker for this two day conference. Since that time, the conference has been held in several locations around Western New
York and has included participants from Ohio and other locales around the country. We’ve grown from a two-day conference in September, to a three-day holiday weekend in October. Since 1987 we have mostly met on the beautiful grounds of the historic Chautauqua Institution, following their summer program season. While the primary goal of sharing ideas has remained the same, the conference has evolved in new ways and grown to add lively and energizing workshops for fiber artists from the newly indoctrinated to those with years of fiber arts under their belt. We are a biennial conference (on the off years of Convergence) and are organized by volunteers from fiber art guilds in the greater Eastern Great Lakes area. The small, friendly conference provides unique opportunities to meet with other fiber lovers, as well as six instructors. Two and a half days of weaving, spinning, sewing and felting should satisfy the curious fiber artist. We hope to see you there! learn more