roducers are organizing a 100 Mile Fleece and Fibre Fair on May 29 and are inviting everyone to see what can be done with locally made clothing and material.
The first local fair of its kind, they will show how products can be turned from “fleece to finish,” through Island suppliers and artisans.
The organizers believe this is an increasing trend shown through the popularity of things like the 100 mile diet, where people buy food produced as close to home as possible.
They point out that buying locally produced clothes or making them yourself saves carbon by not shipping them from China, uses little or no chemicals to clean other than soap, and no animals are killed.
Their fleeces need to be shorn each year to keep the animals healthy.
There will be displays, demonstrations and hands on activities for people to see clearly the progress from fresh fleece on the farm to hand made clothing and other items from socks and hats to sweaters and shawls.
They have 33 vendors scheduled to present expertise and items for purchase including mohair, angora, many breeds of sheep wool, alpaca, llama and others.
Along with hand spinning and fleece judging demonstrations and information they will be selling yarns for knitting, weaving, fleece for spinning and felting etc.
The event, also a fundraiser for the facility, will be Sunday, May 29 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Bradley Center on the Port Alberni Highway between Parksville and Coombs.