OQUOSSOC — Glenna Allen, the regional fly-tier for Orvis and L.L. Bean, will be at the Rangeley Outdoor Sporting Heritage Museum next month to demonstrate her fly-tying technique.

Allen, of Andover, will be at the Oquossoc museum from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, June 22.

She will also discuss her experiences over a tying career that began more than a half century ago, Kevin Sinnett, a director with the Rangeley Lakes Region Historical Society, said in a news report.

Allen, an expert angler, along with her husband, Fred, learned to tie flies from many of the experienced tiers in the Rumford area, Sinnett said.

Starting out with a three-drawer, fly-tying box, she soon graduated to the kitchen table, which became her tying bench.

The quality of her flies was quickly recognized, leading to sports shops, such as the Rangeley Region Sport Shop and Oquossoc Grocery, selling her flies. At each location she would leave a form for customers to order any fly pattern they felt would attract the “big one,” Sinnett said.

Allen was soon tying patterns using every reference source of patterns she could find. It was then that she moved from the kitchen table to a long plywood table in her living room.

Glenna started a cottage industry in this region in the 1960s when she received her first order from Orvis. Soon they asked her to recruit other tiers and, before long, she had a dozen men and women tying a variety of patterns.

She would instruct her tiers how to tie one or two patterns, collect them and inspect the final product before shipping. Soon her tiers were tying every pattern from Atlantic salmon flies to dries, wets, streamers, and tandem streamers.

Her list of customers also expanded to include L.L. Bean, and Abercrombie and Fitch. She moved from the living room to a special addition to her Andover home.

Allen also added other fly-fishing items to her growing list of offerings. She taught fly-tying at Mexico High School, Sinnett said.

Last year, Allen turned 83 and is still tying flies for family, friends and a few old-time customers.

“Although her fingers are not as nimble as they once were, she still loves to create beautiful flies that, in addition to catching fish, are becoming collectible,” Sinnett said.

He urged people to visit the museum on June 22 “to meet one of the region’s important fly-tiers who has made her mark on our fly-fishing heritage.”