Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

Dorset ram at the 2010 festival
Begins First full weekend in May
Ends Sunday
Frequency Annual
Location(s) West Friendship, Maryland
Inaugurated 1973
Participants Knitters, sheep breeders, wool spinners

The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival is largest and longest-running showcase of domestic sheep and wool in the United States.[1] The 2010 festival was the 37th consecutive. It is held at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Maryland.

History

The festival was started in 1973.[2] In 2003 it attracted over 70,000 people.[2] The 2014 festival was the 40th consecutive. It is sponsored by the Maryland Sheep Breeders Association. The festival's purpose is to "educate the public about sheep and wool". It is organized and staffed by volunteers from both the sheep breeding and fiber communities.[3]

It is held annually during the first weekend in May at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Maryland.[4] It has vendors of wool yarn, and judging of more than 30 sheep breeds. Vendors of other fiber-producing livestock such as goats, angora rabbits, llamas, and alpaca also attend.

The festival includes live music, a parade of breeds, a sheep to shawl contest, and border collie demonstrations.[5] Food vendors sell various lamb dishes including lamb burgers, gyros, and lamb sausage. There are also lamb cooking contests and lamb cooking demonstrations.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "A Mild and Woolly Adventure; 'Hobbyist' Farmers Tend Flocks In Effort to Reconnect With Land". Washington Post. March 24, 2001. Retrieved 2009-02-09. In Maryland, some enterprising farmers have turned the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival into what organizers say is the largest and longest-running event of ...
  2. 1 2 "Md. sheep and wool fest phenomenal in 30th year". American Farm. 2003. Archived from the original on 2006-03-19. Retrieved 2009-02-09. It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 years for the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. These sentiments were echoed time and again during the festival’s run May 3 and 4, 2003, at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Md. The festival has grown from a small show of wool sheep held in Carroll County 30 years ago, to a national phenomenon attracting 70,000 people from all over the world.
  3. ↑ "Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival". Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Retrieved 2009-02-09.
  4. ↑ "Curtain falls on 31st annual edition of Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival". American Farm. 2004. Archived from the original on 2007-06-29. Retrieved 2009-02-09. The Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, held the first full weekend in May each year at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Md., celebrated its 31st anniversary May 1–2, and attendance proved the event is as popular as ever.
  5. ↑ "Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival". Washington Post. 2006. Retrieved 2009-02-09. The festival also includes live music, a long line of fairground concessions, sheep to pet, border collie demonstrations and vendors selling more kinds of wool and sheep knicknacks than you can count.
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