April 19-22. (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. Amy Wolf is the judge this year and
that is one knowledgeable young lady. You could learn a lot. Also a ton of demonstrations.
We'll have our sales booth plus some animals. This is the 28th 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. Look 'em up if you're there.
Margaret had to turn in her 'Cindy Grant Fleece Trophy' after having it all year. However, we were
awarded the first 'Presidents Award' for our contributions to the Extravaganza over the years and in 2007. It was in honor
of Dave Sicks who we loved dearly and lost during this past year. Weather wise the Extravaganza was the best in years. Lots of warm sunshine. Sales wise
it reflected the bigger crowds from the weather. Joyce Harrell came down and helped early and daughter Lori and Gary
helped out on Sunday. Lots of nice people.
May 28. Shepherds Festival. Grange Hall, Sequim, WA. This is the first 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. Lovely weather and a great crowd. I was not sure about the move,
but it worked wonderfully and we had a good time. 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 first year of the Gathering without Morris Culver. It was definitely a disappointment
in that regard. His passing in January is still on our minds and I suppose always will be. Colette insisted we come and
stay and we had a great time with her. She's always the hostess with the mostest and she didn't falter.
She led us to some special wineries to visit.
My Father's day gift was to buy whatever wine I wanted and I did me proud.
August 3-7. Clark County Fair. Ridgefield,WA (near Vancouver, WA, right on I-5). Several Washington and Oregon breeders use Clark as the first real tune-up fair for the show season. This is the 139th year of the Clark County Fair. The fair is fun, the people are about as friendly as they come, and there's lots to see. Margaret's fleeces have traditionally done extremely well here (hope I don't jinx her). If you like Scottish Highland cattle (as we do), the local breeders almost always have a great gathering. The food front has two highlights. The local Dairy Women have a raspberry (or peach) milkshake to die for. Unfortunately the spaghetti feed was canceled last year by the fair due to E-coli possibilities. Fortunately a vendor has a baked potato with lotsa goodies called an 'Irish Sundae' Well, things changed considerably this year. Margarets fleeces did well but we were whipped up on by the Scholder clan. The milkshakes went up in price and down in quality. And Pat and his buddies didn't get any Scotties to the fair this year. However there were still lots of friends and we had a great time.
August 10-12> 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 a decline in cattle too.
August 23-27. 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 was asked to take over the Sheep Supt. job and we're sure she will do a great job. Marybeth and daughter Elizabeth
are the 4H supts.
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 this part of 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. The sheep did well
also but there are not too many Romneys left at Kitsap. We won the O'Hara cup (Best Overall Young Flock) for the fourth
time with the White Romneys. 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.
Margaret won her age group with the knitted Moebius Scarf she just finished. I guess you'd have to say Margaret cleaned up
here.
September 7-10. 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.
This year had mixed results. A white fleece was 1st place Romney and Champion Market Fleece.
Because of our support for the Natural Colored Wool Growers (without them some 20 years ago, we wouldn't be showing
colored sheep yet) we always double register a few Romneys and then enter them separately in the NCWGA show. This year,
one of the ewes was Champion Ewe in the Coarse class. A natural colored ram was the Reserve Champion ram in the NC Romney
show.
September 13-17. Spokane Interstate Fair Spokane, WA. Called the Interstate due to the
involvement of Idaho and Eastern Oregon folks. Romney involvement is somewhat sporadic. However
the old time engine and equipment show is one of the best. If you're interested in mules,
this is the place. Beautiful, well trained (not the mule reputation) animals with lots of riders.
For the second consecutive year, Margaret will not be attending the Spokane Fair!
November 9-16. North American International Livestock Exhibition (NAILE). Louisville, KY.
The Romney show date will be on the website for NAILE. For more info, go to
(NAILE). We think our sheep will be
there on the dates above. The NAILE is the largest livestock show in the
world and is truly a wonder. The sheep pavilion alone is about the size of 3 football fields. There are 2 sheep show
rings going continuously every day with shavings dyed green (Kentucky bluegrass?) and a picket fence around them.
And that's just the sheep. There are about 15
other kinds of animals going at one time or another in various wings of this massive complex and a huge rodeo too.
Ya gotta see it to believe it!!
Margaret has had phenomenal success recently in the NAILE. In 2002 she had the Grand Champion Colored Romney
Ram and in 2004, the Reserve Champion Natural Colored Ewe. Also in 2003 and 2004 she had the overall Grand Champion
Fleece with a Natural Colored Romney fleece. Two Overall Champion Fleeces in a row was unheard of. Could she make three?
Well, not quite. She had the top Natural Colored Ram's fleece but the overall champ was a beautiful Corriedale, also from
Washington.
This year is the National Romney Show and Annual Meeting of the Romney Breeders Assoc. at the NAILE. Since Margaret is
on the Board of Directors we'll be there. We really enjoy the Louisville area (a trip to Churchill Downs for the
Fall Meet is a must).
This trip also provides an opportunity
to go to New Concord, Ohio to see our grandson Liam, daughter Katie, and son-in-law Bil. In recent years we've also
gone to Missouri to see and have Thanksgiving with Gary's relatives. Family times are treasured.
The fleece entries for 2007 Romneys was higher (although not as high as we hoped for in a Nat'l Show).
The sheep show was pretty impressive and Margaret's natural colored ewe (shown below) was the reserve champion. The weather
was not great and missed a trip to Churchill Downs but had a
great time with family in Ohio and Missouri.
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 6th 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.
In 2007 we may have a booth at the 'Fiber Arts Day' at the local Port Townsend Farmers Market in later October.
We had a wonderful time last year.
Also, we have planned another Holiday sale with Jenny Watkins just down the road a bit.
Scheduled for early December . (call or e-mail for details).
Apparently the Fiber day at the Market was not scheduled this year and the Holiday Sale also did not
occur. So our show year was over. See you in 2008.