Past Fiber Festivities from 2006:
May 20, 2006 was the day of our Third Annual Jamaica Fiber Festival. Although it was raining in Manchester and Townshend that Saturday, Jamaica was spared, and we enjoyed a fun filled day of fiber fun.
Activities included sheep shearing at Asta's Restaurant, a maypole dance on the Community Church lawn, The Bondville Boys and Laura Molinelli played their Bluegrass favorites; there were pony rides, kids' fiber and sheep related crafting opportunities; demonstrations in carding, spinning and weaving, needle felting, and rug hooking; and a great raffle. One of the
raffle prizes was a handwoven shawl made during the day with handspun yarn (hand dyed fleece donated by Grafton Fibers).
New this year was a handspun skein contest sponsored by the Northeast Handspinners Association . There were 21 skeins entered. Skeins were anonymously judged by Patty Blomgren, assisted by Maureen Clark. First Place Certificate, Northeast Handspinners Assoc. $25 First Place Award & Ashford Niddy-Noddy Kit went to Elizabeth Szczesniak-Johnson. Second Place
Certificate & Ashford Card Flick to Maryann Nowakowski. Third Place Certificate & Ashford Spinning Wheel Oil to Margaret Atkinson. Special THANKS to Patty, who is an Ashford dealer, "Centre Artisans" of Dummerston, for generously donating the Ashford products as prizes. Thank-You to ALL who participated.
All proceeds from raffle ticket sales, vending fees and fiber festival t-shirts went to the Jamaica Town Hall Restoration Committee for renovations to our historic Town Hall. Other community organizations also had the opportunity to raise revenue for their causes: the Fire Department sold hamburgers (meat and buns donated by Asta's Restaurant) to raise around
$400, the Ladies' Benefit raised over $300 for the Jamaica Public Library by selling baked goods, and the Community Church sold sandwiches and baked goods to raise over $100. The Fiber Fest fund made enough to seed next year's event and have $300 available to donate to the Town Hall Renovation fund. T-shirts are still available for purchase at Margie's Muse.
Raffle prizes and the lucky winners were: Lucille Festa's Rug Hooking kit won by Kathleen Meeks; Pumpkin Needle Felting Kit won by Jen Dorta-Duque of the Three Mountain Inn in Jamaica; Handmade Birchbark Bird House made by Skip Woodruff of Old Corker's Emporium won by Lily Clark; Jenna Konesko of Thumb Thing Green won the gift certificate at Three Mountain Inn; Clara Robinson won the gift certificate from Margie's Muse donated by Twisted Stitchers Lexa Clark, Katherine Paige and Jayne Chovinard; Stoneymead Farm's Virginia Ludeman donated two skeins shetland wool yarn, won by Kathy Coleman; Jayne Chovinard won Thumb Thing Green's lino block print fiber animal note cards; Linda Sheehan and Ruth Ticknor each won a 2 oz. bag of de haired llama fiber for spinning or felting from Elizabeth Szczesniak-Johnson of Hemlock Haven Farm; Katherine Paige won the gift basket from Kathleen Meeks of Maybelle Farm, containing a skein of shetland wool yarn, knitting needles, and patterns; Bruce Chapin won a set of handmade wooden double pointed knitting needles from Tom & Diane Golding of Meadowsweet Farm; Hannah Hopkins, a new spinner, won the Golding Ring Spindle, hand carved and donated by the Goldings; Nancy Zeller of Long Ridge
Farm donated an Earthues Natural Dye Sampler, won by Elizabeth Szczesniak-Johnson; Adrienne Carroll won the hand-knit blanket made by several knitters, from close and far, including Adrienne herself, who made the central square; and Katherine Paige won the handspun handwoven shawl made during the day by several participants in the spinning and weaving
process.
Thanks go out to all those who donated prizes and purchased raffle tickets and t-shirts, to those who contributed time, energy, and resources to make things happen, including Nancy Jean Henry for picking up the brochures and Holly Krom for asking folks from Pepsi to donate the banners which hung over
the road; to all the knitters who contributed squares for the blanket (Katherine, Lexa, Adrienne, Helen, Marjie, Judy, Janet); to Jan Elliott for weaving most of the shawl; to Grafton Fibers for donating the hand dyed batts for spinning; to Bonnie & Michele DePreux of Asta's Restaurant for feeding and hosting a group of us at a first organizational meeting, for donating
food to the Fire Department, and for making space and sheep available for sheep shearing, as well as money to the shearer; to Wendy Bruso for her help sending out registrations and hanging flyers and general availability, as well as for bringing her sheep to town and providing money for the shearer; to the Bondville Boys and Laura Molinelli, for contributing their Bluegrass musical talents and time and energy to entertain us all; to Stephanie Greene, Micah Eberhardt and Janet Crosby for putting together and overseeing
activities for kids to do to get their hands on some yarn; to Liz Doering, Greg Staley and Dennis for making the Knitting Nancys; to Kim Ray for bringing clay sheep for kids to dress in fleece; to Brad Waugaman for playing beautiful, original compositions for piano and organ in the church sanctuary; to Maryann Nowakowski for arranging the handspun skein contest,
which was a happy addition to this year's event and one which I hope continues to inspire further spinning, and to Patty Blomgren for judging the event and donating prizes; to the members of the Jamaica Community Church for opening their doors to this event and allowing us to Maypole dance on their lawn; to Kate Ullman and again, Laura Molinelli, for leading us in that Maypole dancing and bringing spring celebration and joy to the event; to the members of the Jamaica Village Council who helped and gave moral support, including Jen Dorta-Duque, who printed the raffle tickets and Ed Dorta-Duque (both of Three Mountain Inn) who helped with the banner; to Thom Crowninshield who planned for months to be the master raffle ticket and T-shirt salesman and at the last minute was called away; to David Charis-Mink who called on the 17th asking what volunteer opportunities there were, so thankfully became the ticket and t-shirt salesman for the day; to Bruce Chapin, Mark Silvia and Lexa Clark for getting the town hall ready and for help setting up tables and for cleaning up later; to the church and fire department for loaning us tables for vendors; to Pat Dodge, with help from Nancy Jean Henry, for getting the great wheel in Margie's Muse actually spinning instead of being a display prop; to Ruth Ticknor for making the display for the handspun skeins as well as sharing general moral support; to Sophia Sanderson for painting a vendor sign, and Linda Diak for making 3rd Annual Fiber Fest vendor signs; to all those who came to Jamaica for the day - vendors and visitors; and to Jamaica residents for coming out to play and joining in the fiber fun. If I've forgotten you, please let me know.
Know you're appreciated. Thank you thank you thank you all.