April 17-20. (Shepherds Extravaganza).
Puyallup Fairgrounds, WA as part of the Puyallup Spring Fair.
One of the biggest fleece sales around and lots of booths. If you are
into wool, the fleece show is worth the visit. Kirsten Holbro was the judge this year and
that is another knowledgeable young lady. We learned a lot. Also a ton of demonstrations.
Margaret had our sales booth (and friends helped out) plus some animals. This is the 29th anniversary of the
Extravaganza and some of the volunteers who put on this show have been there the whole time. That's quite a record.
There is lots of satisfaction for a job well done, but a little word of thanks never
hurts.
Margaret had a great show in terms of fleece and sheep sales. Joyce Harrell came down and
helped early and daughter Lori and Gary helped out on Sunday. Lots of nice people.
May 26. Shepherds Festival. Grange Hall, Sequim, WA. This is the second year they've had the Festival
at the Grange hall on the west side of Sequim and it worked well. Not sure of the name of the Hall, but signs and local
papers should cover it. It's a fun little show with booths (including ours),
spinners, weavers, some 4-H animals and others. If you've followed this page in the past you know that Margaret
and I have a habit of marking certain shows by the food item(s) they have. It seems like every fair has a special that we
particularly like. Would you say we're food oriented? Probably!! The Shepherds Festival is famous for their lamb chili
and lamb kebobs. If you came all the way to Sequim and walked right past our booth and into the food line, I'd understand.
You may find me ahead in line, but it's OK, they never run out.
This is another one of those shows where a small dedicated group works very hard putting on this show just for you,
either exhibitor or visitor. Without them it wouldn't exist. If you enjoy yourself, give them a word of thanks. We'll
point them out for you, if you like.
Sequim was all it's glorious self. Pretty decent weather and a great crowd. The show went well
and we made some new friends and saw lots of old ones. The chili and kebobs were wonderful.
June 22-24. Black Sheep Gathering.
Lane County Fairgrounds, Eugene, Oregon.
Years ago we always attended this show, even when it was down in Cottage Grove, Oregon across the creek from the stock
car track. We have loved it ever since, but we've changed our operation some. Rather than taking sheep and working our
tails off all weekend, we use it as a busmans holiday. We just take ourselves and spend the weekend bothering our
friends. It's usually the highlight of our summer. We know, at least casually, most of the people there and it's
our best opportunity all year to get to spend some quality time. If you can make it, and you shouldn't miss it,
keep an eye out for us just strolling around gabbing or sitting in the stands cheering on the sheep shows.
This was our second year of the Gathering without Morris Culver. It was definitely a disappointment
in that regard. However we had a great time with Colette. She's always the hostess with the mostest and she didn't falter.
She led us to some special wineries to visit and at this rate I'll be getting special invites from them each year.
Colette also had Lyn Baker from California and we always enjoy her company (she knows most of Margaret's family in
California and doesn't hold it against her!)
Due to the horrendous cost of gas, we decided to pass on the Clark County Fair this year in early
August.
August 8-10> Jefferson County Fair.
Port Townsend, WA.
Jefferson County Fair is our home fair so we always enjoy seeing our friends and neighbors. It says a lot about
life today that we only see some of our neighbors at a yearly fair. What a shame! Jeff. Cty. is a really small,
hometown kind of fair. The livestock shows are a real highlight and the 4-H kids are out in force. The two rides
have a max age limit of 8. Is that a good deal? We used to have a
really top-rated sheepherding dog trial that ran 2 full days and I could have spent all my time there.
Unfortunately, the times caught up with us and it was replaced by a 4-wheel mud race. Nuff said!
We are one of the biggest contingents in the Open Class Sheep show and consider it a privilege to help represent
Jefferson County and the sheep industry here at home. There are seldom very many other Romneys present,
so we usually do well by default (we encourage the 4-H kids to show in the Open Class too). However, it's
always good to be able to promote Romneys.
We had a good, fairly relaxing time at Jefferson County Fair. It seems the number of 4-Hers is
declining and that is very depressing. We have always been so impressed with the 4H program and what it does. I heard
that there was another decline in cattle too. The terrible rise in cost of feed has caused quite a few folks to
severly reduce their livestock numbers.
August 20-24. Kitsap County Fair Silverdale, WA.
Kitsap is our old home fair and so we are usually heavily involved. Margaret is the Wool Show
Superintendent and Gary runs the 'Lads and Ladies Lead' (we both get lots of help from Joyce Harrell and Marybeth
Nightingale and their lovely daughters). Delores Still is the Asst. Supt for the Wool Show.
Joyce is the Sheep Supt. and does a great job. Marybeth and daughter Elizabeth
are the 4H Supts extraordinaire.
You can expect a fine show for both sheep and wool. The Lads and Ladies Lead is well
attended and you'll see a nice tribute to the Wonderful World of Wool! If you're a rodeo fan, Kitsap is recognized
as one of the best in the country.
We had a great time at Kitsap this year. As we expected, Joyce, Marybeth, Elizabeth, and Leah covered all their jobs with
class and skill, and still found time to help us. Elizabeth even lasted thru most of Sunday before going off to have
a baby. The sheep did well
also but there are not too many Romneys left at Kitsap. We were overjoyed to have friends from southern Washington enter
in Kitsap this year. Adrian Voelker brought her Romneys (along with parents Dave and Marie) and gave Margaret some
serious competition in addition to being some of our favorite people. After so many years of winning the O'hara Cup,
we got beat out by some extremely handsome Hampshires owned by Troy Haslen. He and his dad came up from Battle Ground and
were a welcome addition to the sheep barn. Margarets fleeces pretty well cleaned up in the show. We put a serious dent in the
Scone Wagon too. The number of entries in 'The Lads and Ladies
Lead' was down some, but the show was great and we had some really nice prizes donated by local business folks.
September 5-8. Western Washington Fair. Puyallup, WA. The King of
Washington Fairs. It is very large and will probably have more sheep breeds together than you will see at
any other fair. Considered by many to be the 'Washington State Fair'. In fact, Washington
has several 'State Fairs' located across the state,and the Puyallup Fair is not a
'State' run fair at all. It is privately owned and operated. However Washington State Extension Service
uses it for the State 4-H competitions. Romneys are plentiful. Puyallup has a double sheep show, wool breeds and meat
breeds, with different judges. The wool breed judge also judges the fleece show. Each sheep show takes 2 days. In recent
years there has also been 2 fleece shows. The first one is a regular show like you'd see almost anyplace else. It covers
the first 4 days of the fair. Then, you can pull out your fleeces or retag them and enter a 'Handspinning' fleece show.
This one is judged strictly on how the fleece would be for handspinning and has a new judge. Makes for some interesting
results sometimes.
This year had some great highs and of course some lows. In the sheep show our only real high was
the champion natural colored Romney ewe. But she is truly a beautiful girl (see below). In the fleeces a gorgeous white
was the 1st and reserve champion Romney, 1st and champion market fleece, the top white fleece in the fair
(over all breeds), and then the 1st and reserve champion white handspinning fleece. Several of the natural colored
fleeces also were at or near the top of their groups. Overall, we done good and Margaret is very proud (and rightly so).
For the first time in many years we will not be doing the North American International Livestock Exhibition in November
in Louisville, Kentucky. On October 18th, Margaret and dear friend Joyce Harrell will be in Rhinebeck, NY for the annual
Romney meeting at the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival at the Duchess County Fairgrounds. She's the vice president and has
several board meetings but if you're there, please look her up to say HI.
Then on November 2nd, Margaret and I celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary at a 3 day blowout with many family and
friends from all over. Our 3 girls and their families are coming from all over the world to run the show. Lori and Bob
(and granddaughter Kate) from Seattle, Katie and Bil (and grandson Liam) from New Concord, Ohio, and JoDee and Paul from
Ankara, Turkey. There will be friends and relatives from all over too. Hope us old folks can keep up.
That covers our show season as we know it now. If you would like to contact us about specific show dates, please E-mail us here at SPRING HILL FARM
Although our sheep, fleeces, and wool products are always for sale here on the web and
at the farm (please e-mail or call
for an appointment), we have one special date you might like to visit. On October 4th, 2008 we will
have our Fall Harvest Sale here at Spring Hill Farm. We clean out the barn and bring all our products, raw and
processed, down with a few sheep thrown in. We almost always have spinners and some other demonstrations, such as
felting or a watercolor artist and shearing. We're open from 10-4. If you're in the area, or live locally, please
drop by.