Sheep shearing set for Saturday.
By Joyce White
Special to the Sun Journal

DENMARK – Sheep will receive their spring clips, hoof trims and medical checkups at the Eighth Annual Sheepfest, a celebration of rural life and the fiber arts, on Saturday, April 19.

The flocks will begin arriving at the Denmark Arts Center on Route 160 any time after 8 a.m. People may visit the sheep and lambs held in pens waiting for shearer Eric Grove of Parsonsfield.

Linda Whiting of Denmark, one of the original organizers, said the Sheepfest has become an opportunity for sheep farmers to get their shearing done at a good price while giving the rest of the community a glimpse of the entire process of wool production.

The old nursery rhyme, “Baa, baa black sheep, Have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, Three bags full,” suddenly makes sense when someone sees the wool shorn from a large, black Romney stuffed into three bags.

Whiting said the festival began with five sheep and two spinning demonstrations and has grown every year.

“Everyone works together, a real volunteer effort,” she said.

Last year there were 43 sheep shorn.

Getting the cooperation of 150- to 275-pound sheep for shearing is a learned skill and most small farmers find that paying for it – $7 per sheep this year – is money well spent.

The festival provides a service to the community, Whiting said. While people involved in the whole process, from shearing, skirting, or cleaning the debris from the wool, carding, packaging, weighing, dyeing, spinning, knitting and felting demonstrate different parts of the process of wool production, they also market their skills and wares.

It’s educational too, with different kinds of spinning wheels set up around the hall and other people doing different kinds of carding. Hats and mittens and sweaters of all colors and designs create areas of rich color and texture in the hall. Raw wool in a variety of shades hangs in bags for sale.

Organizers add something new every year, Whiting said. Some of the spinners have been willing teachers, and have demonstrated spinning a variety of fibers such as bear hair, wolf hair, mohair from Angora goats, Angora from rabbits and wool in varying colors from different breeds of sheep.

Shawnee Shepherds 4-H Club provides a hot lunch and snacks as a fund-raiser for its club and there is usually toe-tapping music going on in some corner of the hall.

Doors open at 8 a.m. for vendors and demonstrators to set up. Visitors are welcome from 9:30 a.m. until 4 p.m. and the cost for the day is $2.

For information phone Whiting at 207-452-2687.

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